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E/CN.4/1503 page 41
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88. This fact, combined with the problems so far encountered in carrying out any sort of individual eligibility determi- nation in situations of mass influx which has been at the basis of a gradual liberalization of refugee critera, for example through the introduction of the "good offices" role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has led to an unavoidable blurring of differences between refugees and migrants. One major consequence of this has been the relative ease in obtaining assistance from receiving countries' govern- ments and from the international community at large, once the international boundary has been crossed. The increasing "operational" role of UNHCR and other agencies may have acted as an additional magnet. Thus readily available and relatively abundant aid may constitute a "pull factor".
ca-
89. A further consequence is that the right of asylum has been abused. This has created a regrettable backlash in which genuine refugees stand to suffer. Less flexibility on the part of first asylum countries may evolve from this sequence of factors, and indeed examples could be quoted. Certainly, third country resettlement is affected: many countries which willingly opened their doors at the height of a mass exodus will be more cautious every time the status of would-be asylum-
seekers is in doubt, both because of limited absorptive pacity and because of the very high cost of domestic resettle-
ment. Integrative problems add a third dimension: difficulties of integration and assimilation, most pronounced in the case of older people and those with too scanty an education to grapple with a new language, regrettable in themselves because of the individual hardship (or even trauma) involved, have the added effect of causing a hostile reaction, at any rate in those areas where there is a relatively high concentration of new- The public begins to ask what right they have to be admitted to
to their societies, particularly if there is compe- tition for the same economic sector. The new arrivals may be considered not a potential asset, but a liability.
There may be political problems and the rise of extremism.
comers.
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