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Assistance to refugees 915 Chapter XXII Assistance to refugees Activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Increased tensions in various areas in 1979 con- Geneva from 8 to 16 October 1979, stressed the tinued to place further demands on the Office of importance of international protection of refu- the United Nations High Commissioner for gees and called upon all States to respect their Refugees (UNHCR). With the number of refugees rights, especially in regard to the fun damental rising, particularly in Africa and South-East principles of asylum and non-refoulement. It also Asia, UNHCR was called upon to provide interna- stressed the need for assistance to States of first tional protection and material assistance both to asylum in cases involving the large-scale influx asylum-seekers traditionally falling within the of refugees, in accordance with the principle of High Commissioner's mandate and to groups of equitable international burden-sharing, and ex- displaced persons within their country of origin. pressed appreciation for the practical results — On 29 November 1979, the General Assembly including pledges, resettlement opportunities adopted resolutions 34/60, 34/61 and 34/62 con- and plans for establishing refugee processing cerned, respectively, with: the report of the High centres —arising from the Meeting on Refugees Commissioner for the period April 1978 through and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia, con- March 1979; the situation of African refugees, vened by the Secretary-General at Geneva on 20 considered at a pan-African conference on the and 21 July 1979 (see subsection below). The Ex- problem held in May 1979 at Arusha, United ecutive Committee severely condemned recent Republic of Tanzania, partly under UNHCR spon- attacks on refugee camps in southern Africa and sorship; and the report of the Secretary-General expressed the hope that steps would be taken to on a Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons protect refugees and assist victims. It also decid- in South-East Asia, convened at Geneva in July. ed to establish a working group to study propos- By resolution 34/62, the Assembly also took note als by the High Commissioner for creation of a of a Pledging Conference for Emergency Hu- UNHCR fund for durable solutions and invited the manitarian Relief to the People of Kampuchea, High Commissioner to convene the Committee, convened at United Nations Headquarters, New at the latest by 31 January 1980, to consider the York, on 5 November 1979. group's report. The special problems of South-East Asian refu- gees departing by sea were considered by a Meet- Activities in 1979 ing of Experts on Rescue Operations for Refugees and Displaced Persons in Distress in the South International protection China Sea, convoked by the High Commissioner In 1979, activities of UNHCR in the field of at Geneva on 14 August 1979. The meeting, at- international protection of refugees chiefly con- tended by representatives of 10 Governments and cerned questions of asylum, rescue at sea and by experts from the Inter-Governmental Mari- violations of the generally accepted principle of time Consultative Organization and the World non-refoulement, under which no person was to be Meteorological Organization, recommended, returned to a territory where he had reason to inter alia, that the international community pro- fear persecution. vide guarantees of resettlement opportunities to While the majority of States continued to receiving States where the flag States of the rescu- grant either temporary or durable asylum in ing vessels were not prepared to make such 1979, large-scale refusals of even temporary provisions. asylum to refugees arriving by land or sea in Other aspects of international protection in- South-East Asia led to serious consequences, volving UNHCR in 1979 included the processing including, in many cases, loss of life. of complaints of expulsion, detention and viola- The Executive Committee of the High Com- tions of the personal safety of refugees, and estab- missioner's Programme, in decisions and conclu- lishment of refugees' economic and social rights, sions taken at its thirtieth session, held at including rights to education, employment, natu- 916 Economic and social questions ralization, and the provision of identity and counselling and employment, the establishment travel documents. of appropriate national machinery for dealing Notable progress was made in 1979 in family with refugee problems, and the need to formulate reunification of Vietnamese; a programme for assistance programmes and secure for them reuniting separated families was the subject of maximum support. a Memorandum of Understanding concluded The recommendations of the Arusha Confer- on 30 May between Viet Nam and UNHCR. The ence were endorsed by the OAU Council of Executive Committee of the High Commission- Ministers at a July 1979 session held at Monro- er's Programme, at its October session, urged via, Liberia, and its conclusions and achieve- further efforts by Governments towards the ments were welcomed by the Executive Com- resettlement of refugees and displaced persons mittee of the High Commissioner's Programme from Indo-China, including liberalized admis- at its October session. The Committee invited sion criteria and the earmarking of resettlement African States to facilitate the resettlement in opportunities for those rescued at sea. The Africa of African refugees of urban background, Committee also encouraged Governments to in line with recommendations of the Confer- participate in the programme of orderly depar- ence. tures from Viet Nam called for in the Memo- randum of Understanding, and cautioned against prematurely placing unaccompanied Material assistance to refugees refugee minors for adoption. In 1979, approximately $270 million was Significant progress was also made in the area spent on relief and other assistance to refugees of voluntary repatriation of refugees, considered and displaced persons, doubling the figure for the most desirable of durable solutions. Large 1978. Of this amount, some $162.3 million went numbers returned to Burma, Nicaragua and to finance UNHCR'S general programmes of assis- Zaire in 1979, and UNHCR was appointed to co- tance and $107.7 million to special programmes. ordinate the eventual return of more than Assistance continued to be aimed at finding 200,000 refugees to Zimbabwe following the durable solutions, whether through voluntary signing of the Lancaster House agreements in repatriation, local integration or resettlement, December 1979. (For further information, see p. though immediate relief measures were extended 1108.) in emergency situations. In accordance with his mandate, the High Commissioner continued to encourage acces- sions to the 1951 Convention relating to the ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES IN AFRICA Status of Refugees and to its 1967 Protocol. In In numerical terms, Africa continued to be 1979, the number of parties to the Convention the region of greatest concern to UNHCR. The rose from 76 to 77 and the number of parties to population of refugees and displaced persons in the Protocol — which extended the personal the Horn of Africa and the Sudan continued to scope of the Convention and its application to grow, exceeding 1.5 million by the end of 1979, new groups of refugees —rose from 71 to 72. prompting special assistance measures and the The High Commissioner also continued to en- appointment of a Special Co-ordinator for the courage accession to regional agreements and area. The High Commissioner appealed for adoption of appropriate national legislation af- humanitarian assistance in the region to fund, fecting the status of refugees. In 1979, the among other projects, a proposed $2.2 million number of States parties to the 1969 Organiza- programme for Djibouti. A total of $16.9 million tion of African Unity (OAU) Convention Govern- was spent by UNHCR for aid to refugees in Dji- ing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in bouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudan. Africa rose to 19. In Somalia, where the camp population, com- A pan-African Conference on the Situation of posed mainly of women and children, was in- Refugees in Africa was held from 7 to 17 May creasing by some 1,500 a day by year's end, 1979 at Arusha, under the auspices of UNHCR, UNHCR concentrated its assistance on immediate OAU and the Economic Commission for Africa. relief requirements, including transportation, Recommendations concerning the international water-supply systems, education and small-scale protection of refugees and asylum-seekers were agricultural projects. In the Sudan, the number approved by the Conference, including the right of refugees from Chad, Ethiopia, Uganda and of asylum, non-refoulement, rights and obligations Zaire grew to 42,000 by the end of 1979, and of refugees in countries of asylum, the determina- UNHCR opened suboffices in Port Sudan and tion of refugee status, illegal entry and expulsion, Juba to administer emergency relief and resettle- the rights and safety of refugees, conditions of ment programmes. rural and urban refugees, questions of training, Refugees from Angola, Burundi, Namibia, Assistance to refugees 917 Rwanda, South Africa and Zaire were among operation with individual Governments were in- the other groups receiving UNHCR aid in Africa. tensified, allowing the relocation of 192,500 With the assistance of UNHCR, numerous ref- Indo-Chinese refugees to third countries. At ugees returned in 1979 to Angola, Equatorial the same time material assistance, including Guinea, Uganda and Zaire, where conditions emergency food and medical supplies, continued were favourable for voluntary repatriation. to be provided for refugees in their countries of The bulk of the $72 million spent for assis- first asylum. tance in Africa was devoted to local, rural reset- By the end of 1979, approximately 250,000 tlement programmes, though refugees in urban refugees had crossed the Vietnamese border into areas also received benefits, such as salary subsi- China, and assistance provided by UNHCR includ- dies, vocational training and counselling.

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