INTRODUCTION
1.
The activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) during the period under review 1/ were again affected by conflicts and tensions in various parts of the world which gave rise to new problems of refugees and displaced persons in need of protection and material assistance, notably in Africa and Asia.
2. In the field of international protection, the main preoccupation of the High Commissioner has been the problem of asylum the prevention of refoulement and the protection of refugees in respect of their basic rights. On the one hand, Governments have shown increasing concern for greater international protection of refugees; while on the other hand, numerous difficulties have been encountered in a number of countries as regards the granting of asylum, and in several areas there have been serious infringements of the fundamental rights of refugees.
3. The growth in the number, variety and dimensions of refugee problems has called for a corresponding increase in UNHCR's material assistance activities in order to meet the urgent needs of new refugees, many of whom arrive in the country of asylum in a destitute condition. At the same time UNHCR is pursuing the implementation of programmes designed to provide permanent solutions to existing problems.
4.
While priority must obviously be given to meeting the immediate needs of refugees and displaced persons since this may make the difference between
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life and death for many people the primary aim of UNHCR is to help them to resume a normal existence as soon as possible and, in the case of refugees, to promote permanent solutions for them by helping them to return voluntarily to their country of origin, where feasible, to resettle in another country, or to establish themselves in the country of first asylum. The High Commissioner has considered ways and means of speeding up the implementation of these three possible solutions to the problems of refugees. As regards voluntary repatriation, this could be facilitated to a considerable extent by the creation of conditions in the countries of origin that would encourage refugees to return; in the case of resettlement, through Governments making available a larger number of resettlement opportunities as rapidly as possible; and as regards local settlement, the promotion of more rapid integration, inter alia, by facilitating the acquisition of the nationality of the country of asylum.
The High Commissioner believes that action along these lines would be in the best interests of refugees and Governments alike and would enable UNHCR to achieve permanent solutions for more refugees and thereby reduce the global cost of assistance activities.
5.
In view of the rapid expansion of UNHCR's activities, close attention has
1/ 1 April 1977 to 31 March 1978; except for statistical and financial data, most of which cover the calendar year 1977.
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