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Reference....
asylum, and their relation to law, common international law, UN resolutions and recommendations. The report should be balanced and must be an improvement on Note 680. This was a subject of worldwide interest and should not be allowed to become a north-south or east-west exercise. There must be a universal humanitarian approach - no attack on refugee camps could be justified. Only universal condemnation by EXCOM would enhance the status and reputation of EXCOM. UNHCR cannot stand by when there are deliberate attacks on refugee camps.
14. Sweden stated that 101 ratifications were not enough. Refugees were a major global phenomenon and therefore the instruments required universal accession. Especially, they should be extended to those areas where for historical reasons, countries in general had not acceded eg. Asia and Eastern Europe. Utmost efforts should be made to persuade countries in these regions to accede.
15.Illegal and irregular movements particularly where they abused the system could only damage the framework of the provision of asylum. Orderly procedures were necessary. States and UNHCR must seek durable solutions to refugee problems.
16. Sweden agreed with other delegations that detention of asylum seekers was a serious measure especially if prolonged. However, it was widely practiced, sometimes as a deterrent. They hoped that the Sub-Committee Working Group would lead to conclusions which clearly state. when detention was allowed. This work must be completed during this session. Sweden regretted the failure of the Sub- Committee to reach agreement on military attacks on refugee camps.
Agreement must be reached on this at some time but in the meantime there was a need for continuous consideration of the matter. Finally Sweden announced that they had extended the validity of travel documents issued to refugees from 2 years to 3 years.
17.
Turkey stated that international protection was the prime task of UNHCR. First asylum countries could not always bear the full burden of refugee flows into the country and local integration was not always able to solve the problem alone. The return of asylum seekers from first countries to countries of first asylum added to their problems. In particular the length of asylum application procedures meant that many asylum seekers resorted to irregular means. Financial assistance alone was not sufficient to aid countries of first asylum to bear their burden. Resettlement countries have an obligation to help by taking some asylum seekers of their hands. If on the other hand resettlement countries imposed restrictive measures against asylum seekers, the only result would be the countries of first asylum would
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AWO Ltd.
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