naturalization even if they do not fulfil all the conditions applicable in the case of ordinary aliens. There appropriate, efforts have also been directed towards securing exemption from or reduction of naturalization fees.
44. Large numbers of refugees were naturalized in various countries throughout the world in 1970. In the traditional countries of immigration, where many refugees arrive on resettlement from countries of temporary asylum, the assimilation of large numbers of refugees into their national populations is a long-established, ongoing process. In Africa, UIICR contributed to a Government programme for the naturalization of some 35,000 refugees, completion of which is expected during 1979. In one country in Europe, a UIICR project to assist indigent refugee applicants for citizenship continued to satisfy a definite need and in several other countries large numbers of refugees and displaced persons have continued to obtain citizenship.
45.
C. Determination of refugee status
As neither the 1951 Convention nor the 1967 Protocol specifies the procedure to be adopted for determining refugee status, it is for each Contracting State to establish appropriate arrangements in that regard. There is thus a considerable diversity of procedures which reflects differing constitutional or administrative structures. The High Commissioner is particularly mindful of the practical importance of appropriate procedures, without which there is always a danger that refugees might not be able to take advantage of the standards of treatment established for their benefit under both international and national law. There have, indeed, been cases where refugees have been exposed to serious measures of detention, expulsion and even refoulement owing to the fact that their status has not been formally determined.
46. The importance which the Executive Committee attached to this question at its twenty-eighth session was reaffirmed in a conclusion adopted at its twenty-ninth session, 17/which expressed the hope that further States would give favourable consideration to the establishment of procedures for the determination of refugee status. Accordingly, the High Commissioner has continued his consultations with a number of Governments as to the possibility of establishing such procedures.
47. During 1978, procedures recently introduced in a number of States were further consolidated and developed. In Contracting States which have not introduced formal determination procedures, the Office has frequently co-operated closely with the competent authorities in the determination of refugee status within the framework of existing administrative arrangements.
17/ Ibid.,
Ibid., para. 60(1)(i).