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NATIONS UNIES UNITED NATIONS
SERVICE DE L'INFORMATION
INFORMATION-SERVICE
OFFICE DES NATIONS Unies a GENÈVE'
UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
Press Release HR/1047 9 April 1981
SADRUDDIN AGA KHAN APPOINTED SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR
The Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Ambassador Carlos Calero Rodrigues (Brazil), announced today the appointment of Sadruddin Aga Khan as Special Rapporteur on the question of mass exoduses of populations in the context of resolution 29 (XXXVII) adopted by the Commission on 11 March 1981. The report of the thirty-seventh session of the Commission on Human Rights will be considered by the Economic and Social Council at its current first regular session in New York.
The resolution which was adopted by consensus invited the Chairman to appoint "an individual of recognised international standing as special rapporteur" to study the question of mass exoduses and to make his conclusions and recommenda- tions available to the next session of the Commission in 1982.
In its preamble, the resolution refers to "the continuing scale and magnitude of the exoduses and displacements of populations in many regions of the world" and notes with serious concern "the cortinuing great distress of refugees and displaced persons in various regions of the world" as well as "the immense burden imposed on the first host countries and territories which receive the victims of these sudden and massive movements of population". According to the resolution, the Special Rapporteur, in carrying out his study, may seek and receive informa- tion mainly from the United Nations agencies or departments concerned, Governments as well as specialised agencies, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations.
Sadruddin Aga Khan, 48, has been associated with the United Nations system for over 22 years. After graduating from Harvard University in 1954, he did post-graduate work at the Harvard Centre for Middle Eastern Studies. In 1958 he became a consultant to UNESCO for Afro-Asian Projects and has held important positions in the United Nations since then. He was the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner from 1962 to 1965, when he was elected High Commissioner. His mandate was twice renewed unanimously by the General Assembly as the High Commissioner for Refugee, post which he occupied for twelve years.
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