Refugees and displaced persons 949 Chapter XXI Refugees and displaced persons In 1983, with some large-scale refugee situations Refugees met for the first time in 1983, and the As- showing relative stability, the Office of the United sembly asked it to continue working towards developing Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations to that end (38/84). continued to promote durable solutions and pro- The Nansen Medal for the year—awarded since vide care and maintenance to refugees. Despite the 1955 in honour of Fridtjof Nansen, the first League absence of large new refugee influxes, however, more of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees—went than $5 million was obligated from the Emergency to President Julius Nyerere of the United Repub- Fund on 12 occasions. lic of Tanzania in recognition of his personal con- Major assistance programmes continued, notably tribution and that of his country to the cause of refu- in Pakistan, which remained host to the world's largest gees. The President announced that the $50,000 refugee population; the Horn of Africa, where prize accompanying the award would be used to programmes benefited returnees as well as refugees; build schools for refugee children in his country. South-East Asia, which saw a decrease of over 37,000 Topics related to this chapter. Middle East: Pales- in camp populations during 1983; and Central America tine refugees. Economic assistance, disasters and and Mexico, where emergency assistance was coupled emergency relief. with local integration initiatives. New programmes in 1983 included aid to Afghan refugees in Iran; repatriations to Argentina and Chile; and emer- gency relief for Angolans in Zaire, Mozambicans Programme and finances of UNHCR in Zimbabwe and Sudanese in Ethiopia. As in previous years, assistance to Palestine refugees was provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East Programme policy (UNRWA). Executive Committee action. In 1983, the Ex- The High Commissioner told the Executive Com- ecutive Committee of the UNHCR Programme(1) mittee of the UNHCR Programme, at its thirty-fourth while noting as a positive development the absence session (Geneva, 10-20 October), that there were of new large-scale refugee outflows, expressed concern currently some 10 million refugees, as against 1.5 at the continued severity of refugee problems, notably million when UNHCR started its activities in 1951. in Africa, Asia and Central America, and requested In his annual report to the General Assembly UNHCR to continue providing assistance and in- on the work of the Organization (p. 3), the Secretary- ternational protection. It reaffirmed the principle General stressed that the refugee problem could be of international solidarity and burden-sharing as resolved only with a settlement of the root politi- well as the fundamental humanitarian character cal causes; the means available to the United Nations of UNHCR activities, and drew attention to the vital to help alleviate the problem were grossly inadequate. need for the international community to deal in ap- In December, the Assembly called on all States propriate forums with the root causes of refugee to promote durable solutions and to contribute gener- flows (see below). ously to the High Commissioner's humanitarian The Committee noted with satisfaction the High programmes in order to assist refugees, displaced Commissioner's renewed efforts, and progress made, persons and returnees in a spirit of international in reorienting many major assistance activities from solidarity and burden-sharing (resolution 38/121). emergency or relief phase to the promotion of self- The Assembly approved the arrangements for reliance and durable solutions through voluntary the Second (1984) International Conference on As- repatriation, local integration and resettlement. It sistance to Refugees in Africa and appealed to the welcomed the workshops and seminars held to further international community to make it a success (38/120). these objectives as well as the Commissioner's support It also called for assistance to refugees in Djibouti of the international refugee integration resource centre. (38/89), Somalia (38/88) and the Sudan (38/90) as However, the Committee expressed concern at well as to displaced persons in Ethiopia (38/91) and decreasing resettlement rates and urged Govern- student refugees in southern Africa (38/95). ments, in accordance with the principle of inter- The Group of Governmental Experts on In- national burden-sharing, to meet the needs of those ternational Co-operation to Avert New Flows of refugees with no other durable solution immedi- 950 Economic and social questions ately in prospect; it requested the Commissioner GENERAL ASSEMBLY ACTION to co-ordinate and facilitate the planning of reset- In the General Assembly's Third (Social, Hu- tlement programmes by Governments through up- manitarian and Cultural) Committee, High Com- dated assessments of needs and priorities. missioner Poul Hartling reviewed the activities of The Committee recommended that States seri- his Office and pointed out that the presence of a ously consider supporting UNHCR efforts to pro- large number of refugees in a country could cre- mote the Rescue at Sea Resettlement Offers ate social, economic or political difficulties which scheme and providing the necessary quotas and were compounded if there was little prospect for other undertakings to enable UNHCR to initiate refugees to become an asset and not a burden. the scheme on a trial basis; welcomed the support UNHCR could act only as a catalyst; it was up to given to the Disembarkation Resettlement Offers Governments to create conditions leading to solutions. scheme; and commended the initiatives taken by UNHCR and the International Maritime Organi- On 16 December 1983, the General Assembly, zation, including an October joint appeal, for acting on the recommendation of the Third Com- facilitating the rescue of asylum-seekers in distress mittee, adopted resolution 38/121 without vote. at sea. UNHCR continued to co-operate with other Report of the United Nations High United Nations organizations in its programme Commissioner for Refugees implementation. Such co-operation included the The General Assembly, Having considered the report of the United Nations High International Labour Organisation (ILO) promot- Commissioner for Refugees on the activities of his Office, ing vocational training and income-generating ac- as well as the report of the Executive Committee of the tivities in refugee settlements, and the United Programme of the High Commissioner on the work of Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) providing care its thirty-fourth session, and having heard the statement and maintenance and supporting community de- made by the High Commissioner on 14 November 1983, velopment. Agreement was reached with the Recalling its resolution 37/195 of 18 December 1982, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Reaffirming the eminently humanitarian and non-political on future co-operation in situations requiring character of the activities of the Office of the High Com- longer-term assistance to refugees and involving missioner, Noting with deep concern that problems of refugees and development projects. The World Food Pro- displaced persons of concern to the High Commissioner gramme (WFP) continued to meet most of the remain acute in all parts of the world, notably in Africa, basic food needs of refugees and displaced persons Asia and Latin America, in many affected areas. Stressing the fundamental importance of the High Com- UNHCR also co-operated with other intergovern- missioner's international protection function and the need mental organizations, liberation movements and for States to co-operate with the High Commissioner in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As a result the exercise of this essential function, of NGO interest in greater involvement in the an- Expressing serious concern over the difficulties encountered nual meeting of the Executive Committee, the Com- by the High Commissioner in the exercise of his inter- national protection function in the face of continued vio- missioner convened in October 1983 the first pre- lations of the basic rights of persons of concern to his Office, Executive Committee meeting for NGOs, which was Deeply concerned that in various regions the safety and attended by the representatives of 66 agencies. welfare of refugees and asylum-seekers have been seri- The Executive Committee welcomed the Com- ously jeopardized on account of military or armed at- missioner's co-operation with other members of tacks, acts of piracy and other forms of brutality, the United Nations system, in particular with WFP Acknowledging with appreciation the noce of the Execu- in providing relief assistance and with the World tive Committee on the strengthening of the management Bank and ILO in promoting self-sufficiency and policy of the Office of the United Nations High Com- income-generating or employment opportunities. missioner for Refugees, submitted by the High Commis- sioner, and the High Commissioner's efforts to strengthen the management of his Office, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL ACTION Noting that the Executive Committee has requested the By decision 1983/101 of 4 February 1983, the High Commissioner to undertake a comprehensive study Economic and Social Council decided to transmit, of the full financial and practical implications of the in- without debate, the UNHCR report(2) to the clusion of Arabic,