One of the achievements of the present century has been the collective definition by the international community of a body of legal principles for the treatment of refugees. As the century draws to a close, however, the application of these principles is beset with increasing difficulties due to the magnitude and complexity of the refugee problem. Some of these difficulties arise when a refugee problem needs to be addressed in a group context, which is frequently the case in refugee situations resulting from violence, internal conflict and the widespread disregard of human rights.