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eu long-running programmes to see if resources are being used in
th best possible way as circumstances change. Continued assistance
can create a dependency syndrome. Resettlement is expensive.
Contributions to a resettlement programme are only the tip of
the iceberg of the real costs of actually resettling refugees.
If such resources were available for voluntary repatriation, they
could achieve dramatic effects.
PROTECTION
15.
Although in the past year there have been no new mass
exoduses, vast numbers of refugees remain, and continue to need
legal and physical protection. To give crly one example,
one-fifth of the entire population of Afghanistan have fled
their country in the face of Soviet invasion and occupation.
(The reception given to them by the government of Pakistan, with
the help of UNHCR, deserves high praise.) Although not the
primary concern of UNHCR, the need of Palestine refugees for
protection has unhappily caught public attention. A recent JIU
report on UNRWA, to be discussed at the General Assembly, recommends
that UNRWA and UNHCR should consult about means of guaranteeing
the safety and legal and human rights of Palestinian refugees.
We hope this proposal is put into practice. UNHCR is not
responsible for Palestinian refugees: but UNHCR is responsible
for refugee standards everywhere. Human rights and humanitarian
standards are indivisible.
MANAGEMENT
We
16. This past year has seen a great deal of discussion about
the management of the office. This was useful and fruitful.
hope to see further progress in the years to come. Administration
must be a dynamic process, a constant redeployment of resources
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/to meet