E.
Family reunification
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51. The separation of families and their dispersal in different parts of the world is often one of the tragic features of refugee situations and other man-made disasters. Frequently, a refugee head of family leaves his country while his family remains behind, and in other cases family members leave for various destinations and find themselves in different countries. It also occurs that a refugee family, having been admitted to one country on a temporary basis, cannot leave together as a unit for their country of resettlement owing to technical immigration requirements.
52. The imperative nature of family reunification is recognized in various international instruments covering human rights such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 and Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. Specifically as regards refugee families, the Final Act of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries which adopted the 1951 Convention recommended that Governments take measures for the protection of the refugee family by ensuring that unity is maintained, particularly in cases where the head of the family has fulfilled the necessary conditions for admission to a particular country. The activities of the Office in this field also derive from its statutory function to facilitate the assimilation of refugees within new national communities, in that prolonged separation from close family members can have serious psychological and social consequences that could impede the refugee's progress in settling down in his new country,
53. For reunification purposes, the Office generally regards the basic family unit as the spouse and minor children. Where, however, there is evidence that other relatives also form part of the family unit and that they significantly depend on the refugee, it is sometimes possible for UNHCR, depending on the regulations existing in the countries concerned, to assist in promoting reunification for such relatives.
54. The period under review has been notable for a number of encouraging developments in the field of family reunification. Thus, the movement of family members from one South American country to be reunited with their refugee heads of family in their respective countries of residence continued with the departure of a further 640 relatives, bringing the total of such reunifications since September 1973 to over 6,300.
In Europe the Office has continued to approach Governments with a view to facilitating family reunification and a number of cases were satisfactorily solved. In Africa, as in previous years, measures were taken to promote reunification in a smaller number of individual cases in several countries.
55. In one country in South-East Asia, UNHCR action in regard to family reunification had previously been limited to facilitating transport in cases where entry and exit visas had already been granted. It later became possible for the Office to assume a more active role, initially by organizing a number of special flights for certain persons who had been granted permission to leave the country. Subsequently, an announcement was made by the authorities that family members of displaced persons abroad and other persons wishing to leave the country would, with certain exceptions, be able to do so. The possibility has thus arisen for the Office, with the active co-operation of Governments, to facilitate family reunification on a wider scale.
56. Family reunification has continued to be a factor of major importance in obtaining the admission of refugees and displaced persons to most traditional countries of immigration.
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