INTRODUCTION
E/CN.4/1503 page 1
1. The phenomenon of
of mass movements of people is not new. From earliest times men have been fleeing one another's intol- erance or migrating in search of land and livelihood. For
the last several years, however, the number and magnitude of flows of refugees and displaced persons have been such as to cause increasing concern within the international community. By the beginning of the 1980s, numbers exceeded ten million, with the exodus from certain countries reaching haemorrhage proportions. At the same time, increasingly large migratory movements within countries and regions have begun to pose economic and social problems not hitherto experienced on quite
the same scale.
2.
In the last 35 years, with the emergence from colonialism of about a hundred new States, often after a considerable
struggle and with an inheritance of artificial national bound-
aries, fragile national unity, underdeveloped economies, too few cadres and boundless logistical problems, the world has seen an unprecedented proliferation of tensions and conflicts. New ideologies misunderstood by and unacceptable to portions of the population, blatant racial discrimination, civil wars, the terror tactics of more than one dictator,
than one dictator, foreign invasion or acute economic hardship have caused millions to decide that any life outside their own country must be more bearable than the present one.