CONFIDENTIAL
a 12-month period. We are also sometimes criticised for the slowness of our resettlement programme.
Future Problems:
19
Organisational, Financial and Political
The expansion of the work of UNHCR represents a change not in degree but in kind. The international community has started to grapple with the consequences of this development. On the organisational side one is bound to ask the question whether UNHCR will be able to adapt quickly enough to cope, if the number of refugees and displaced persons increases at the rate which we have witnessed in the last two years. UNHCR has been over-stretched in many parts of the world. The conditions of service away from Geneva are such as to discourage headquarters staff from going out into the field. Internal reforms are needed. The High Commissioner has already decided on the establishment of a Policy Planning Unit reporting directly to him. Nonetheless compared to other UN organisations, UNHCR is relatively efficient, free from corruption and Western-oriented. The High Commissioner and his staff deserve our commendation and support for the excellent work which they do in difficult circumstances. There is much, therefore, to be said for maintaining the independent status of UNHCR and of avoiding the sort of co-ordination within the UN system, directed from New York, which would allow the Russians in particular to meddle in a way which damaged our interests.
20 At the same time UNHCR cannot expect to live in a vacuum. Its problems and responsibilities are becoming increasingly inter- dependent with those of other bodies in the humanitarian field both within and outside the UN system. There was considerable discussion
at the recent session here of the Economic and Social Council of how the world's humanitarian machinery might be adapted so that it can respond more quickly and effectively to the ever-increasing demands for emergency assistance, be it for refugees, displaced persons or victims of conflicts. The US delegation and the Leage of Red Cross Societies called for greater co-ordination between the international humanitarian agencies, amongst which the most important are UNHCR, ICRC, UNICEF and the UN Disaster Relief Organisation (UNDRO). The US also suggested that a fresh look be taken at international refugee conventions (a theme to which Mr Warren Christopher reverted in his recent address to the Council of the Organisation of America i
/Stats.