General Assembly

Distr. GENERAL  

16 December 1991

ORIGINAL:
ENGLISH

                                                 A/RES/46/106
                                                 74th plenary meeting
                                                 16 December 1991
 
.   Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
 
  The General Assembly,
 
  Having considered the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees on the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner, as well as
the report of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the High
Commissioner on the work of its forty-second session, and taking note of the
statement made by the High Commissioner on 7 November 1991,
 
  Recalling its resolutions 45/140 A and B of 14 December 1990,
 
  Reaffirming the purely humanitarian and non-political character of the
activities of the Office of the High Commissioner, as well as the fundamental
importance of the High Commissioner's international protection function and
the need for States to cooperate with the High Commissioner in the exercise of
this primary and essential responsibility,
 
  Welcoming the High Commissioner's commitment to address refugee situations
through a threefold strategy consisting of the enhancement of the emergency
preparedness and response mechanisms of the Office of the High Commissioner,
the concerted pursuit of the preferred durable solution of voluntary
repatriation and the promotion of solutions through preventive measures,
 
  Noting with satisfaction that one hundred and nine States are now parties to
the 1951 Convention and/or the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of
Refugees,
 
  Welcoming the valuable support extended by Governments to the Office of the
High Commissioner in the discharge of its humanitarian tasks,
 
  Bearing in mind that the relationship between human rights and refugee flows
merits further consideration,
 
  Noting with concern that despite developments that offer hope for solutions
to refugee problems, the number of refugees and displaced persons of concern
to the Office of the High Commissioner has increased and their protection
continues to be seriously jeopardized in many situations as a result of
non-admission, expulsion, refoulement and unjustified detention, as well as
other threats to their physical security, dignity and well-being, and lack of
respect for fundamental human rights,
 
  Welcoming the commitment of the Office of the High Commissioner to improving
the situation of refugee women and children, who represent the majority of
refugee populations and who, in many cases, are exposed to a variety of
difficult situations affecting their physical and legal protection, as well as
their psychological and material well-being,
 
  Conscious of the link between international protection and resettlement as
an instrument of protection and of the need for the international community to
continue to provide adequate resettlement places for those refugees for whom
no other durable solution is in sight,
 
  Commending those States that, despite severe economic and development
challenges of their own, continue to admit large numbers of refugees and
displaced persons of concern to the Office of the High Commissioner into their
territories, and emphasizing the need to share the burden of these States to
the maximum extent possible through international assistance, including
development- oriented assistance,
 
  Commending the Office of the High Commissioner and its staff for the
dedicated manner in which they discharge their responsibilities, and paying
special tribute to those staff members who have lost their lives in the course
of their duties,
 
  1.  Strongly reaffirms the fundamental nature of the function of the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide international
protection and the need for States to cooperate fully with the Office in
fulfilling this function, in particular by acceding to and fully and
effectively implementing the relevant international and regional refugee
instruments;
 
  2.  Recognizes the need to keep issues related to refugees, asylum-seekers
and other migratory flows firmly on the international political agenda,
especially the question of solution-oriented approaches to deal with today's
refugee problems;
 
  3.  Recognizes also that the current size and complexity of the world
refugee situation require vigorous promotion of existing protection
principles, as well as full and open debate on new directions for protection
and on further development of the law in this area, paying particular
attention to the responsibilities of States to resolve refugee situations and,
especially with respect to countries of origin, to address and try to
eradicate causes of refugee flows;
 
  4.  Calls upon all States to refrain from taking measures that jeopardize
the institution of asylum, in particular by returning or expelling refugees
and asylum-seekers contrary to the fundamental prohibitions against these
practices, and urges States to ensure fair and efficient determination
procedures and to continue to give humane treatment and to grant asylum to
refugees;
 
  5.  Condemns all violations of the rights and safety of refugees and asylum-
seekers, in particular those perpetrated by military or armed attacks against
refugee camps and settlements and forced recruitment into armed forces;
 
  6.  Recognizes that growing misuse of asylum procedures could compromise the
institution of asylum and the maintenance of fair and efficient refugee status
determination procedures, and endorses the general conclusion on international
protection, in particular in relation to refugee status determination, adopted
by the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees at its forty-second session;
 
  7.  Endorses the conclusion on refugee children adopted by the Executive
Committee of the Programme of the High Commissioner at its forty-second
session, including the decision to establish a new post of coordinator for
refugee children within the Office of the High Commissioner;
 
  8.  Commends the High Commissioner on the Guidelines on the Protection of
Refugee Women, which provide a practical means of ensuring the protection of
refugee women, including the delivery of appropriate assistance programmes,
and calls upon States, relevant agencies of the United Nations system and
other organizations, whether governmental, intergovernmental or
non-governmental, to implement the Guidelines;
 
  9.  Stresses the overriding importance of attaining durable solutions to
refugee problems and, in particular, the need to address in this process the
root causes of refugee movements, and calls upon the High Commissioner
actively to explore new options for preventive strategies that are consistent
with protection principles, as well as ways in which State responsibility and
burden-sharing mechanisms might be strengthened;
 
  10.  Underlines strongly State responsibility, particularly as it relates to
the countries of origin, including addressing root causes, facilitating
voluntary repatriation of refugees and the return, in accordance with
international practice, of their nationals who are not refugees;
 
  11.  Urges all States and relevant organizations to support the Office of
the High Commissioner in its efforts to search for durable solutions to the
problem of refugees and displaced persons of concern to the Office, primarily
through voluntary repatriation;
 
  12.  Acknowledges that at present there are important opportunities for
resolving long-standing refugee situations and welcomes the intention of the
High Commissioner to reinforce the efforts of the Office to encourage and
promote voluntary repatriation of refugees and their safe reintegration in the
countries of origin;
 
  13.  Recognizes the importance of pursuing resettlement as a last resort
where no other durable solutions are available and the need for States to
respond rapidly and with flexibility to evolving situations where resettlement
is required to ensure the protection of the refugees concerned;
 
  14.  Welcomes the initiatives taken by the High Commissioner to enhance the
capacity of the Office to respond to emergencies and, taking into account
current deliberations on a United Nations system-wide response, encourages the
High Commissioner to continue to work closely with other United Nations
agencies, as well as other organizations, whether governmental,
intergovernmental or non- governmental, to assure a coordinated and effective
response to emergency humanitarian situations of a complex and protracted
nature, and calls upon Governments to assist in implementing these
initiatives;
 
  15.  Endorses the decision of the Executive Committee of the Programme of
the High Commissioner at its forty-second session concerning inter-agency
cooperation and calls upon the High Commissioner to sustain her efforts in
this area so that the multifaceted needs of refugees, returnees, displaced
persons and their host communities might be better addressed, in particular
through development initiatives by relevant United Nations agencies and
programmes;
 
  16.  Expresses deep appreciation for the valuable material and humanitarian
response of receiving countries, in particular those developing countries
that, despite limited resources, continue to admit large numbers of refugees
and asylum-seekers on a permanent or temporary basis;
 
  17.  Urges the international community, including non-governmental
organizations, in accordance with the principle of international solidarity
and in the spirit of burden-sharing, to continue to assist the countries
referred to in paragraph 16 above and the High Commissioner in order to enable
them to cope with the additional burden that the care for refugees and
asylum-seekers represents;
 
  18.  Calls upon all Governments and other donors to contribute to the High
Commissioner's programmes and, taking into account the need to achieve greater
burden-sharing among donors, to assist the High Commissioner in securing
additional and timely income from traditional governmental sources, other
Governments and the private sector in order to ensure that the needs of
refugees, returnees and displaced persons of concern to the Office of the High
Commissioner are met.