CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUM
AUSTRALIAN VIEWS
CN
THE INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION OF REFUGEES : TEMPORARY REFUGE AND INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
1 oct 80.
Annex (xvii)
UNISB/RJ*
c
At last year's meeting of the Sub-Committee on International. Protection of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Program, the Australian delegation tablol a paper dealing with the problems of large-scale influx. That paper expressed the view that the serious and disturbing phenomenon of "refculerent." (both enforced return and rejection at the frontier), which had recently occurred, had been connected with the concern of sare countries at the lack of international solidarity and cooperation in burden-sharing and their fear that by admitting large mmbers of refugees in a mass influx situation they would be faced with heavy burdens.
The Australian delegation argued in the Sub-Committee that to deal with the problems of large-scale influx a mechanism should be developed to link admission of refugees with international solidarity. The delegation suggested that this link should be the status of temporary refuge.
The term "temporary refuge" was accepted by the Sub-Comittee, and it appeared in the report of the Executive Committee in the context of the conclusions on protection. Although same delegations reserved their position on the question of terminology, a number of others expressed the view that the concept of "temporary refuge" should be studied further as a matter of some urgency.
We believe that the two concepts of temporary refuge and International solidarity should be examined further at this year's meeting of the Sub-Committee on International Protection in the context of a continued consideration of the problems arising from large-scale influx.
In this memorandun, we should like to elucidate and elaborate the concept of temporary refuge and suggest how it might be related to possible developments in international refugee law. We also suggest, in the light of the problems of large-scale influx, what aspects of international solidarity might usefully receive further study in the Sub-Committee.
Temporary Refuge
The concept of temporary refuge can be found in an erkryonic form in a number of existing international instruments (e.g. Article 31 of the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, Article 3(3) of the 1967 UNGA Declaration on Territorial Asylum,
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