UNRRA in North Africa: A Late Colonial History of Refugee Encampment.

This article focuses on the history and significance of two United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) refugee camps in wartime French North Africa, using them to trace the emergence of a modern international regime of refugee encampment. It details how these camps—Camp Marshall Lyautey near Casablanca, Morocco, and Camp Jeanne d'Arc in Philippeville, Algeria—were shaped by colonial authorities, entangled with legacies of Nazi and Vichy internment, and served both humanitarian aid and restrictive border control functions. The article further explores how UNRRA's efforts to reframe encampment as a humanitarian practice laid the groundwork for the postwar United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to adopt similar strategies during decolonization, particularly in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Ultimately, it situates these camps within broader historical continuities linking European colonial and fascist internment systems to the institutionalization of refugee camps as tools for managing displaced populations and enforcing national borders in the Cold War era.