RESTRICTED
Protection (Item 4)
11. The Sub-Committee on Protection met just before the
Executive Committee on 6 October to discuss travel documents
for refugees and the extra-territorial effect of the determination
of refugee status. The conclusions of the Sub-Committee were ado-
pted and form part of the Report. The High Commissioner supported
a suggestion made by Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands that the
Sub-Committee meet for two days next year and that the first item
discussed by the Committee should be protection.
12.
Introducing item 4 the Director of Protection announced
that since the last Session Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Sao
Tome and Principe, Panama, Spain and Somalia had acceded to the
Convention and Protocol, bringing the number of States parties
to the Convention and/or Protocol to 77. Jaeger also referred'
to the need to maintain a constant dialogue with governments on
the procedure for determining refugee status, and this theme was
reverted to by many delegations. The High Commissioner himself
took the opportunity of seeing Mr Gould privately to stress to
him the importance he attached to this subject. Similar approaches
were made by Jaeger and Haselman (the new Chief of the European
Section). The representatives of Switzerland and the FRG
described recent legislation enacted in their countries on
determining refugee status. It was in response to the considerable
interest shown in this matter that Mr Gould made a candid statement
(Annex D) on the UK's efforts to improve its procedure. Mr Jaeg, er
also drew attention to the Handbook on Protection and Criteria for
Determining Refugee Status which had been prepared at the request
of the last Executive Committee (advanced copy already circulated).
On the question of the resumption of the Conference on Territorial
Asylum, a paragraph in the Nigerian draft "resolution" called for
RESTRICTED
/the