BACKGROUND
General
CONFIDENTIAL
1. M Jean-Pierre Hocké UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
is visiting the UK (for the first time since his appointment) 26-30 October 1986. During this visit he will call on the Secretary
of State, the Home Secretary, Mr Patten and Mr Waddington and will
be given a lunch by Mr Eggar. A copy of his programme is attached
at Annex A.
2.
The office of High Commissioner for Refugees was set up in 1951
for a period of three years. Since then the mandate has been
extended for five year periods; it next expires on 31 December
1988. M Jean-Pierre Hocké (personality note at Annex B) has been
High Commissioner since January 1986. UNHCR reports annually to the
General Assembly through ECOSOC; its policies are determined by a
41 member Executive Committee, meeting annually in October; UK is a
member.
3.
UNHCR has two main functions:
(i)
protection of refugees from being returned against their will ('refoulement') and safeguarding basic rights in
the country of asylum;
(ii) assistance to countries of asylum in enabling refugees to
become self-supporting as soon as possible through
voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement.
There are about 10.5 million refugees worldwide, mostly in Africa,
Asia, Central America and Middle East.
4. UNHCR's operations are entirely financed by voluntary
contributions with administrative costs met partly from the UN
General Budget.
5.
The bulk of UNHCR funds are spent in Africa for rural resettlement programmes. Other programmes include those in Asia, largely geared to local integration, and in Europe and
N69AAR
CONFIDENTIAL