This study highlights the refugee issue, reviewing the concept of the refugee and the international protection of refugees from the viewpoint of the prospects and limitations of multilateralism in the post-Cold War era. This text offers a review of state practice within the United Nations and in regional contexts, as well as a review of the practice of the United Nations inter-agency system.;The broadening concept of security, affecting the attitudes of states towards refugees, is the underlying theme of the book. The contemporary preoccupation with how best to provide international protection to all those in need of it, is reviewed from a number of relevant perspectives, including those of peacekeeping, sanctions, and co-ordination and competence within the United Nations.