ANNE X
Opening statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the thirty-seventh session of the Executive
Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme
on 6 October 1986
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you today on this, my first opportunity to address a regular session of the Executive Committee. I have greatly enjoyed our informal exchanges in January and June with Permanent Representatives of Member States, and look forward with anticipation to our discussions in this more formal setting.
1.
2.
a
During my first nine months in office, I have come to value the constructive role of the Executive Committee in UNHCR's work. This has been a per iod characterized by close co-operation and frequent contact with member States, process which I intend to continue and reinforce. A regular interchange of ideas with Governments is, I am convinced, essential for my Office both in order to
and develop the confidence that is essential for the smooth progress of our work, to promote a common search for solutions at a time when refugee problems are acquiring an unprecedented degree of magnitude and complexity. I have therefore sought to maintain close ongoing relations throughout the year, not only with Executive Committee members as a whole, but also through bilateral contacts and group meetings - with all Governments that have an interest in refugee issues, including many that are not members of this Committee but are present as observers today. My senior colleagues and myself have complemented these contacts by extensive visits to the field where we have met with the authorities of countries dealing directly and tangibly with the problems of refugees.
3. In the course of such efforts I have arrived at an understanding of the nature of UNHCR's role and responsibility to the Executive Committee, which I should like to share with you. I see UNHCR as fundamentally an operational agency that is accountable to the international community through you for the effective implementation of solution-oriented assistance programmes on behalf of refugees in the field. The Executive Committee sets the High Commissioner's overall programme objectives within the mandate conferred upon him by the United Nations General Assembly, approves the financial targets of the Office and reviews UNHCR's programmes with a view to ensuring that the funds placed at the disposal of the Office are wisely and correctly spent. In addition, in areas touching upon the statute of the Office, it has, in Bagehot's famous words about the English Crown,
Within the "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn". general limits set by the decisions and the advice of the Committee, it is the High Commissioner's task to define the methods and the means by which he seeks to attain his objectives, and to take humanitarian initiatives to further these objectives in an effective, neutral and efficient manner.
4.
I use these adjectives advisedly, for it is my view that UNHCR must be judged by them. Whether the Office is effective must be measured by our results; neutral, by our refusal to participate in any controversy of a political nature; efficient, by the costs of our personnel and programmes, and the result-oriented use of the
It is my resources placed at our disposal by the international community. understanding that the Executive Committee will let me know if the Office diverges from these standards, while leaving it to me, as High Commissioner, to define the principles and the processes that would best attain the desired results.
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