When studying the institutional aspects of the global governance of refugee issues, scholars almost exclusively put the emphasis on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, largely ignoring other organizations and the relationships established with these institutions. The aim of this article is to help fill this gap in the analysis by focusing on the historical roots of cooperation between UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration. Despite the fact that this relationship has been at times charged with competition and suspicion, it has also been a vital factor in the refugee arena over the past sixty years. KEYWORDS: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM), International Organization for Migration (IOM), cooperation, migrants, refugees, history.