Icara 2

ICARA 2 or "ICARA II": International Conference on Assistance to Refugees in Africa established in 1984.

This was an attempt that was jointly organized by UNHCR and UNDP, and had as its principal theme "Time for Solutions." The solutions were geared towards refugee flow and remuneration to the nations which assisted in refugee assistance.

It was hoped that international agreement could be found to fund the cost of supporting refugees.

It was also hoped that the major outcome of this meeting would be that refugees ended up going back home, to their original place of location - voluntary repatriation. This comes from the agreement that it is cheaper for the donor nations to have the refugee reintegrate with their home nation then to have to support them continually, creating a "welfare system" for refugees.

This meeting is largely considered a failure.

This information comes directly and indirectly from the UNHCR [http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/research/opendoc.htm?tbl=RESEARCH&id=3f978a894] as well as from Lecture of Barry Stein, expert on Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons at Michigan State University.