4.
38.
Other international legal instruments of relevance to refugees
An important development during the period under review was the adoption by the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts of Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 (the Red Cross Conventions") which includes provisions of benefit to refugees and stateless persons. Article 73 of Protocol I provides that persons who before the beginning of hostilities were considered stateless persons or refugees under the relevant international instruments, accepted by the parties or the national legislation of the State of refuge or the State of residence, shall be protected persons within the meaning of Parts I and III of the Fourth Convention, in all circumstances and without any adverse distinction. Article 74 imposes an obligation on the High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the conflict to facilitate in every possible way the reunion of families dispersed as a result of armed conflict and to encourage in particular the work of the relevant humanitarian organizations. Article 85, which deals with the repression of breaches, provides that acts described as grave breaches in the Conventions shall constitute grave breaches of the Protocol, if committed against persons protected, inter alia, by article 73.
39. With the accession of Switzerland to the Convention on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance of 1956, the total of States parties to this instrument has risen to 40. It will be recalled that this Convention is of practical relevance to the situation of split refugee families.
40. During the period under review there have been no further accessions to other international legal instruments concerning refugees, such as the 1957 Agreement and 1973 Protocol relating to Refugee Seamen and the European Agreement of 1959 on the Abolition of Visas for Refugees.
5.
Promotion of international instruments
the
41. Promoting the conclusion and ratification of international conventions for the protection of refugees is one of the functions with which the High Commissioner is entrusted under the Statute of his Office. In such respect, Executive Committee noted that a large number of States had still not become parties to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol, and recommended that the High Commissioner undertake a concerted and determined initiative at the highest level to promote further accessions. 11/ It also recommended that such an initiative should extend to promoting withdrawal of the geographical limitation still maintained by certain States in respect of their obligations under these instruments. Subsequently, the General Assembly, in resolution 32/67, as in resolutions to similar effect adopted in previous years, urged Governments to facilitate the efforts of the High Commissioner in the field of international protection, inter alia, by considering accession to the relevant international and regional instruments established for the benefit of refugees. The initiative specifically recommended by the Executive Committee was launched during the period under review.
11/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-second Session, Supplement Io. 12A (A/32/12/Add.1), para. 53 (2) (b).
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