Until recently, the UNHCR Office continued to give primary attention to those refugees who are accommodated in camps. This approach was encouraged by the organization's 1997 policy statement on refugees in urban areas, a document that was based on the assumption that such refugees were more the exception and less the norm, as is now increasingly the case. Experience with the 1997 policy statement revealed a number of other difficulties. It was preoccupied with the growing cost of providing assistance to refugees in urban areas, which limited its scope of application. So too did its focus on the issue of refugees who take up residence in an urban area after moving in an irregular manner from their country of first asylum. In addition, the 1997 paper did not establish a sufficient balance between UNHCR's security concerns in urban settings and the need to deal with the underlying causes of the refugees' frustration. Recognizing the need to address the issue of urban refugees in a more comprehensive manner, UNHCR is now replacing the 1997 policy statement with the current document.