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rescue refugees in distress at sea and also appealed to coastal States to provide at least temporary asylum to refugees coming to their shores as a first port of call or who might otherwise be in grave jeopardy. 10/ Pursuant to these recommendations, the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General of the Inter- Governmental Ilaritime Consultative Organization (ICO) made a joint appeal to the States concerned. In addition, a further joint appeal with ICO through the International Chamber of Shipping, following a similar approach in 1977, was made to shipowners to issue instructions to their ships' masters enjoining observance of the obligation to rescue those in distress at sea, in accordance with maritime tradition and the obligations deriving from international instruments.
24. llany countries throughout the world contributed to the solution of asylum problems by generously admitting for resettlement on a durable basis refugees and displaced persons who had been granted only temporary asylum elsewhere. The question of determining the country which can appropriately be called upon to examine an asylum request ("country of first asylum") has, however, continued to give rise to problems in various regions. Moreover, asylum seekers have been faced with a number of difficulties due to the absence in certain countries of special procedures for determining refugee status.
25. Questions concerning territorial asylum and related matters have continued to receive attention from Governments at the regional level and also from academic institutions.
26. As regards the United Nations Conference on Territorial Asylum, the High Commissioner has continued his consultations with Governments. In the light of these consultations, it would appear that the convening of a future session of the Conference may be premature at the present moment. The matter is however being pursued by the High Commissioner who will report on further progress in due course.
Non-refoulement
27.
The principle of non-refoulement
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the prohibition of the return of a person to a country where he has reason to fear persecution is the most important single element in the international protection of refugees. In instruments adopted at the universal level, it finds expression in the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol and in the United Nations Declaration on Territorial Asylum of 1967. At the regional level, the principle of non-refoulement is also stated in legally binding instruments such as the OAU Convention of 1969 Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa 11/ and in the American Convention on Human Rights of 1969, which entered into force during 1978. 12/
10/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-third Session, Supplement No. 12A (A/33/12/Add.1), para. L.
11 See paragraph 63 below. 12/ See paragraph 64 below.
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