DRAFT TEXTS ON REFUGEE BURDEN ON ASYLUM COUNTRIES, WORK OF UNHCR, INTRODUCED IN THIRD COMMITTEE
Press Release
GA/SHC/3379
DRAFT TEXTS ON REFUGEE BURDEN ON ASYLUM COUNTRIES, WORK OF UNHCR, INTRODUCED IN THIRD COMMITTEE
19961107 A draft resolution calling on all governments to help alleviate the burden of large numbers of refugees on asylum countries, particularly those with limited resources, was introduced by Norway this morning to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural).According to the text, the General Assembly would call on all States to respect the principle of protection and humane treatment of asylum-seekers, in accordance with internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian norms. Countries would be asked to continue the programmes of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and assist her secure additional and timely funding from governments and the private sector.
The representative of Poland introduced a draft resolution on the expansion of the Executive Committee of the programme of the UNHCR.
The Committee also continued its general debate this morning on the elimination of racism, racial discrimination and the rights of peoples to self-determination.
The representative of Liechtenstein said her Government's initiative on self-determination would provide communities, which had distinctive identities, with channels to express their aspirations. A degree of self- administration might diminish the frustrations of distinctive communities within States and, thus, lessen or even do away with the risk of conflict.
The Committee also held a dialogue with Ibrahima Fall, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance. Delegates again raised the question of a proposed world conference on racial discrimination.
The representatives of Tunisia, Israel and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia made statements.
The Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. this afternoon to conclude its general debate on racism, racial discrimination and self-determination of peoples.
Committee Work Programme
The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) met this morning to continue consideration of the elimination of racism, racial discrimination and the rights of peoples to self-determination. (For background, see Press Release GA/SHC/3376 of 5 November.) It was also scheduled to hear the introduction of draft resolutions relating to refugees and displaced persons.
It was also scheduled to hear the introduction of a draft resolution on the enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (document A/C.3/51/L.14), sponsored by Poland and South Africa. By the terms of the text, the General Assembly would decide to increase the size of the Executive Committee from 51 to 53 States and ask the Economic and Social Council to elect the additional members at its 1997 organizational session.
By the terms of a draft resolution titled "Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees" (document A/C.3/51/L.20), the Assembly would deplore the fact that some refugees and displaced persons have been subjected to armed attack, murder, rape and other violations or threats. It would call on all States to ensure respect for the principle of protection and humane treatment of asylum seekers in accordance with internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian norms. And it would call on all States who have not done so to accede to or succeed to and fully implement the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and relevant regional refugee instruments.
The Assembly would call on all governments and other donors to demonstrate their international solidarity and burden-sharing with countries of asylum through efforts to alleviate the burden of States who have received large numbers of refugees, particularly those with limited resources; to continue the High Commissioner's programmes; to take into account the effects of large refugee populations on countries of asylum, as well as the need to widen the donor base to achieve greater burden-sharing; and to assist the High Commissioner in securing additional and timely income from traditional government sources and the private sector to ensure the needs of refugees, returnees and displaced persons.
WAHID BEN AMOR (Tunisia) said his Government had always combated racism in every form and had sought to stunt its growth through means of education. Penal sanctions had been introduced against those who perform racist or defaming acts against others, including migrant workers and minorities who are especially vulnerable. The Special Rapporteur rightly pointed out in his report that the manifestation of racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia have become acute because of recent world events. The international community must shoulder its responsibilities in the fight against racism, and Tunisia
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was pleased with the actions of some countries to address the issues of xenophobia and racial violence and guarantee dignity for all. His Government also supported the convening of a world conference on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.
The Tunisian Government also reaffirmed its strong commitment to self- determination, which was a sacred right, he said. However, that right continued to be denied to the Palestinians. The Palestinians were the only people in the region who have been scattered by the recent peace programme, and this was partly due to the increased provocations and pressures from the Government of Israel. Tunisia was concerned about the stagnation in the peace process, and therefore called on Israel to comply with its obligations under the Charter and the peace agreement, so Palestinians could exercise their universally recognized right to self-determination.
CLAUDIA FRITSCHE (Liechtenstein) said the importance of attaining independence, under the principle of self-determination, by those many peoples who were at one time under a form of foreign or colonial domination, had been responsible for shaping the international community as it exists today. Self- determination underlay many aspects of the international community's growing concern with the status of minorities and indigenous peoples. Many conflicts had occurred because people seeking ways of asserting their identity had found that they had no channel within their States through which to express their aspirations. Consequently, these groups viewed resistance as their only option, with the force of arms, if necessary. Her Government sought to provide a means, short of full independence, whereby the reasonable aspirations of distinctive communities might find reasonable expression.
The aim of the Liechtenstein initiative was to provide channels through which communities with a distinctive identity could express their aspiration, she said. The essential idea behind the initiative was that some conflicts had their causes in the frustrations of distinctive communities within States, and that a degree of self-administration may diminish those frustrations and thus lessen or even do away with the risk of conflict. The Secretary-General, in his "Agenda for Peace," rightly emphasized the importance of preventive diplomacy. Liechtenstein believed that its initiative would contribute to efforts currently being undertaken in the area of preventive diplomacy.
DAVID MATNAI (Israel) said his Government knew from the beginning that the peace process with its Palestinian neighbours would be a long and difficult one, but it believed that the path of peace ran in only one direction and there would be no turning back from this chosen path. Israel reaffirmed its desire to achieve a just, lasting, comprehensive and durable peace settlement as part of a historic reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Israel would also continue to advance towards a just solution that would consider the fears and trepidation of all sides. The disquiet of
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the recent months proved just how fragile the nascent peace was. It was up to both sides to learn from the tragic events of September. The peace process was not doomed, and the alternatives to peace were too costly for any side to risk.
His Government expressed its disappointment regarding the statement made to the Committee by a representative of an observer organization. According to her account of the situation, any setbacks in the peace process were due to the "policies of the new Israeli Government." It must be noted that prior to the Israeli elections, during a span of eight days of terror, 59 Israelis were killed in four separate suicide attacks perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalist enemies of peace. The elections in Israel were held in the shadow of those attacks, and the new Government was brought into office on the basis of creating peace with security for the Israeli people. Israel's neighbours must respect the decision of the Israeli people and recognize its commitment to peace remained unchanged.
OLIVER KRLIU (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) said the international community must take all necessary measures to guarantee its victory in the struggle against all forms of racial discrimination. Today, countries faced sophisticated forms of racism and racial discrimination as expressed in forms of intolerance for diversity, xenophobia, ethnic exclusiveness and superiority. Those contemporary forms of racial discrimination had destructive consequences for the harmony, stability and peace of all societies. Since the problems of racist behaviour, prejudice and related phenomena were social and psychological problems that might be frequently abused for political purposes, attention must be paid to them, and complex and comprehensive measures must be created to combat them. The international community should focus its activities to eliminate contemporary forms of racial discrimination on educational programmes, because prejudices are implanted in childhood.
Individual countries cannot combat racial discrimination in isolation; therefore, activities at the regional level, with countries that have similar problems, were of special importance, he said. The dangers of contemporary forms of racism go beyond State borders, and it was in this context that his Government would like to underscore the original idea of the Council of Europe for the establishment of a commission against racism and intolerance. The commission had developed a complex approach towards those problems in European societies. It operated at all levels: from the preparation of general recommendations aimed at strengthening and improving existing international instruments to the preparation of reports about all European States which analysed racism and racial discrimination and proposed concrete measures and recommendations for their elimination.
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Dialogue
The Committee then began a dialogue with Ibrahima Fall, the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, and Maurice Glele-Ahanhanzo, the Special Rapporteur for human rights on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance.
The representative of Ghana said for a long time there had been some concern about sex discrimination in the Secretariat. He noted that the gender gap in staff levels was still large and did not set a good example to the outside world. The Secretary-General's plan to achieve gender parity was in place and the problem was being addressed. Reports of racial discrimination in the Secretariat went against the United Nations Charter, he said, and asked if the Special Rapporteur had studied the impact of discrimination against women.
The representative of China said the text of the English version of the Special Rapporteur's report referred to Taiwan rather than to Taiwan (province of China). The same error did not occur in the Chinese or French versions of the report. He hoped the same mistake had not been made in other languages and asked for a corrigendum.
The representative of Cuba said the note verbale from the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights on a possible international conference on contemporary forms of racism and xenophobia made no specific reference to paragraph 12 of General Assembly resolution A/50/136, which requested the Secretary-General to consult with Member States, non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental agencies and get their interest on such a conference. He said his Government had not been adequately informed of the requirements for indicating their interest in holding such a conference, which it supported. The fact that only two countries had sent notice of their interest was no reason for the Secretariat not to draft questions for Member States on the possibility of such a conference.
Mr. GLELE-AHANHANZO said that his mandate did not refer specifically to sexual discrimination, but each time he submitted his report he mentioned certain incidents which might include discrimination against women. In his meetings with governments and other organizations, he examined discrimination based on many factors, including gender, as well as ethnic background, nationality, religion and the colour of a person's skin. However, the issue of sexual discrimination in the Secretariat had not been raised.
He told China the necessary corrections would be made to the text of the report. He said he agreed with Cuba that a United Nations conference on contemporary forms of racism should be held as xenophobia was assuming disquieting dimensions. It was important for the international community to meet and address the issue.
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Mr. FALL said measures would be taken to correct the English text of the Special Rapporteur's report and, if need be, a corrigendum would be drafted for other texts.
In answer to Cuba's comments, he said he did not wish to become involved in a debate about the difficulty of understanding his note verbale. However, the ball was now in the court of the Third Committee, because the Economic and Social Council had been informed that only two countries had expressed interest in holding a conference. But several delegates had spoken in favour of a conference, and a decision should be taken now in New York to address the issue.
The representative of Turkey said if the Special Rapporteur had difficulty getting information from Member States, how was he going to get information from non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental agencies to include in his report. When would the reports of the Special Rapporteurs be available in all working languages? he asked. He also wanted more information on the proposed conference on xenophobia and how the reorganization of the Centre for Human Rights would affect Mr. Fall's work.
The representative of Ghana asked the Special Rapporteur if it was within his mandate to examine sex discrimination issues in the Secretariat. He asked Mr. Fall what he knew about the ongoing plan to achieve gender parity in the Secretariat.
Mr. GLELE-AHANHANZO, replying to Turkey, said various resolutions required the Centre to send notes verbales to governments and intergovernmental agencies to get information from them. Governments were required to give information on any forms of racism in their country to the Special Rapporteur, but unfortunately some governments did not do that. His work was affected not just by inadequate staff at the Centre but by the lack of information from Governments.
Referring to Ghana's question, he said a Special Rapporteur was not an international civil servant and was not an employee of the Centre, but an expert who carried out work with resources provided by the Centre. However, the Centre did not have the resources for the Special Rapporteur and only paid him a per diem and travelling expenses. Other expenses have to be borne by him. But States should help by sending information through the Centre.
Mr. GLELE-AHANHANZO said he had proposed the special conference on xenophobia. If the Centre had the means, it would consult with experts who would carry out the necessary work for a preparatory meeting.
Referring to Ghana's question on discrimination against women, he said that his mandate required him to study all forms of discrimination so that, if
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he felt there was discrimination against children or women, he would make that information available to other special rapporteurs on women's issues so that they could use it in preparing their reports. His reports would mention discrimination against women in the context of a particular area and use any relevant statistics given to him by governments or non-governmental organizations. In answer to Turkey's questions, Mr. FALL said notes verbales had been sent to all governments requesting information for preparation of the report of Mr. Glele-Ahanhanzo not later than 3 June after the end of the Commission on Human Right's session in late April. He did not consider that was too late. The three reports by the Special Rapporteurs had not been translated into all working languages because of severe budgetary cutbacks. But they would be translated for the Commission's next session.
As far as the proposed conference on contemporary forms of racism and xenophobia was concerned, it had been mentioned in many reports by the Special Rapporteur, and the issue had been discussed widely and thoroughly. The main question now was whether the Assembly wanted to organize such a conference.
He suggested that issues on the work of the Special Rapporteur be raised during the Third Committee's dialogue with the High Commissioner on Human Rights, José Ayala-Lasso.
Introduction of Draft Resolutions on Refugees
MARCIN NAWROT (Poland), speaking on behalf of South Africa, introduced the draft resolution on the enlargement of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the UNHCR. Both countries hoped the draft would be helpful to the work of the Committee.
PETTER WILLE (Norway), speaking on behalf of the other sponsors, introduced the draft resolution on the Office of the UNHCR. The resolution reflected universal support for the High Commissioner and affirmed the fundamental importance of the UNHCR in protecting refugees and seeking durable solutions of the problem of refugees. Member States were urged to support the work of the UNHCR, and it was their responsibility to promote national solidarity and burden-sharing with asylum countries, particularly developing countries and countries with limited resources.
There were corrections to the text, he said. In the first sentence of operative paragraph 20, the words "developing countries and" should be inserted between "in particular" and "those who". And in operative paragraph 17, the words "through bilateral agreements" should be deleted.
Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Ghana, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Nepal joined the list of sponsors.
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