26. Appreciation was expressed for the efforts already made by UNHCR to provide detailed information to members of the Committee, and for improvements in the quality of the documentation submitted. A number of speakers, however,believed
that further efforts to rationalize and streamline the documentation produced by UNHCR were worth undertaking in co-operation with a working group of the Executive Committee, as had been recommended in the Sub-Committee on Administrative and Financial Matters.
27.
Two speakers commended the award of the Balzan Prize for Humanity and Peace to UNHCR. Many other speakers saw in the award of this year's Nansen Medal a recognition of the contribution of the people, non-governmental organizations and successive Governments of Canada to the refugee cause.
A. "Root causes"
(Items 4 and 5 of the agenda)
28.
Several speakers underscored the importance of tackling the root causes of refugee problems and of finding ways to avert new flows of refugees and felt that UNHCR could be a catalyst in this regard. One speaker deplored the failure of the international community to defuse the root causes of refugee flows and expressed support for the High Commissioner's efforts in this area. Two delegations referred to the recommendations of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Co-operation to Avert New Flows of Refugees as a suitable basis for action in this regard. One speaker stressed that refugees were the product of violations of human rights and underlined the importance of upholding human rights across the world. Other speakers also identified armed conflicts, the policies of apartheid and colonialism practised by the Government of South Africa, poverty and underdevelopment, drought, economic imbalances between the developed and developing world, and international political, social and economic contradictions as lying at the root of refugee flows. One of the speakers felt that a fundamental solution to refugee problems could only be found when just and reasonable political solutions were available. Some speakers saw a convergence of migration and refugee movements; one described the difficulty of distinguishing satisfactorily between "economic" and "political" refugees in many situations. Another delegation thought that such a distinction had to be established in the interest of genuine refugees themselves.
29.
B.
International protection
(Items 4 and 5 of the agenda)
At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Chiba (Japan), Chairman of the Sub-Committee of the Whole on International Protection, introduced the report of the 11th meeting of the Sub-Committee (A/AC.96/685). In regard to accession to and implementation of international instruments, the Sub-Committee had taken note of the fact that 101 States had acceded to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 1/ and/or the 1967 Protocol 2/ and had recommended that the Executive Committee adopt a solemn declaration stating the importance of accession to international instruments, including a strong appeal to all States which have not yet adhered to these instruments to do so and expressing the hope that by the fortieth anniversary of the 1951 Convention, all Member States of the United Nations will have acceded to these instruments.
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