RESTRICTED
- 7 -
In the meantime, the Chairman had come to appreciate that he had moved too fast and it was subsequently decided to ask the High Commissioner to report further on the proposals to the 28th Session.
22. It was probably no bad thing that the new measures were delayed until 1977. It is understood that the Director of Administration admitted privately to one of the delegations supporting these changes that he doubted whether the ACABQ would have been happy with the new 'measures had they been adopted in the form proposed at the meeting.
Angola
23. The very timely news about HMG's decision to contribute £250,000 to the High Commissioner's appeal for humanitarian assistance to Angola was greatly appreciated. The UK was alone in announcing a response to that appeal. The observer from Angola and the member of Nigeria were lavish in their expressions of gratitude.
African Requests for an Enlarged Executive Committee and for More
African Representative in the UNHCR Secretariat
24. African delegations were less vocal in their demands for an enlarged Executive Committee and for more Africans in the Secretariat than they were at the 26th Session. The demands were made rather late in the debate, by Nigeria, Liberia and the QAU observer. The Tanzanian and Ugandan representatives made no reference to these demands.
Public Information
25. The UK asked a series of questions aimed at finding out more about the cost effectiveness of the UNHCR's public relations efforts. In his largely irrelevant reply, the High Commissioner mentioned that he did indeed ask to see cost-benefit analyses of public relations projects before they were launched. This led the UK to suggest that the Executive Committee might in future care to examine retrospectively data concern- ing the cost effectiveness of the UNHCR's past year's publicity activities.
Family Reunion
26. The High Commissioner mentioned, with reference to the Helsinki Agreement, that his Office was assisting with family reunion in Europe. The Romanian observer subsequently admitted that his Government was cooperating with the High Commissioner in this regard, but he stressed that family reunion procedures were often lengthy.
INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION
27. A Sub-Committee of the whole was duly set up to consider the High Commissioner's report on international protection. Persistent rumours before the session that the Sub-Committee's meetings would be held in camera led the UK representative to stress during his state- ment in the General Debate that the Sub-Committee's meetings must be public if they were to be effective. And so it was decided. Several Western European delegations, including that of the UK, included legal
/experts
RESTRICTED