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From my experience in Dermark, I was accustomed to a procedure whereby the parliamentarians responsible for adopting an expenditure were also responsible for its financing. But the structure for UNHCR is of an Executive Committee where Governmental Representatives, while approving a target, are not directly responsible for its full financing. In these circumstances, I must plead with members of the Executive Committee to ensure, by every means possible, that governmental contributions to be announced at the Pledging Conference in New York next month be at a level appropriate to the changed structure of the General Programmes.
Failing this, needless hardship will ensue for the refugees, and costly piece- meal implementation will help neither economy nor good order in planning.
Year after year, the resources at the disposal of UNHCR on 1 January, in the form of firm pledges, constitute only a small fraction of the total requirements for the year. The reason is simple. Governments do not have sufficiently in advance precise information on UNHCR's requirements in the following year. Consequently, when their budgetary reviews take place, well in advance of their fiscal year, they are unable to budget for what I would call an adequate contribution to UNHCR. In further consequence, the High Commissioner has to resort to special appeals which are time-consuming for UNHCR, and awkward or even embarrassingto those Governments which, for fiscal reasons, may not always be able to respond as immediately and generously as they would wish.
In the course of this year, I have had occasion to discuss this problem in.
the capitals of Governments that are major contributors. It was felt that one possible way of overcoming this obstacle would be for my Office to submit at least an educated quess of future requirements, perhaps covering the estimated global financial needs for a three-year period. I do not have to convince this Committee that such an exercise is fraught with difficulty, because in dealing with refugees uncertainty is the rule rather than the exception. Nevertheless, a rough approximation based on past experience and current trends could perhaps serve as a useful yardstick for donor Governments. I must underline, however, that such a yardstick can only be based on existing refugee groups, possible new influxes in known areas and a minimal margin for totally new situations. It is the latter that cause great difficulty in planning for no one can predict their magnitude or timing. For example, a year ago, we could not have said that needs in Bangladesh and the horn would require some $ 27 million this year.
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