international fora, for example, the Thirty-Fourth Session of the General Assembly". At least this formula spared UNHCR from the political difficulties of discussing the causes of refugee situations but enabled the Committee to recognise that they could not be ignored. In one of their interventions, the Patriotic Front referred to this "root causes" point and said that as far as Zimbabwean refugees were concerned the root cause was British Colonialism. At UNHCR's request we did not dwell in the debate on Hong Kong's concern that it is not receiving enough of the Assistance Cake. But we left a detailed memorandum with the Secretariat and will continue to press this important point bilaterally.
GENERAL
The Netherlands proposed a review of the Mandate which was being stretched in both directions as UNHCR became involved in Orderly Departure (tantamount to immigration) at one end and long-term resettlement projects at the other (ie Fund for Durable Solutions). This suggestion ran into considerable opposition from UNHCR and other delegations for fear that it would lift the lid of Pandora's Box and it was not therefore pursued. At the end of the General Debate the High Commissioner assured the Africans that he was very conscious of the imbalance in resources between regions, and welcomed more involvement from member governments on management financial and general matters. He pledged continuing UNHCR assist- ance to Liberation Movements for humanitarian purposes.
ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE (Items 5 and 8)
6. Given the interest shown by delegations in the management of UNHCR the Director of Administration explained the criteria on which recruitment was based, that proper training and career development were being introduced and, looking directly at the UK delegation, stated that the ideals of an independent international civil service must at all times be respected, (During the meeting we were following up with UNHCR a press report, which turned out to be false, that Vietnam had vetoed the posting to Hanoi of a British staff member). He hoped that more governments would feel able to sponsor Junior Professional Officers for developing countries and that UNHCR would be able to make more use of the UN Volunteer Programme. The number of new posts in 1979 were 138 and for 1980 another 14 were envisaged.
The few contributions announced were:-
$50,000 for 1979 General Programme for Indo Chinese refugees.
Increased from $400,000 to $700,000 for 1980 General Programme
Brazil
Belgium
Denmark
Increased from DKr 6.5m to DKr 15m ($3m) to 1980 General Programme
FRG
Increased from $1.4m to $2m for 1980 General Programme; $11.5m in addition for Indo Chinese Refugees
.
RESTRICTED
/Japan