21.
22.
Has RASRO resulted in a greater degree of proportional burden sharing ?
The use of RASRO quotas, as of 31 December 1985 is shown in Annex 6.
To achieve perfect proportionality, all 15 RASRO quotas would have been used to the extent of 40%. In fact only four countries (Australia, France, Switzerland and the USA) come within 5 percentage points of the 40% norm. Seven countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Switzerland, the UK and the USA) came within 10 percentage points of the norm.
23. Three very small quotas (10 and below) cannot realistically be considered in proportional terms and one country (New Zealand) has requested full use of its quota.
24.
Only the quotas of three countries (the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden) have been used to what could be seen as a disproportionately high extent.
25.
The problem of proportionality is one of the most difficult for UNHCR to solve. In the document "RASRO Principles of Operational Procedure", distributed before the scheme began operation (copy attached as Annex 7) it was stated:
"Cases without links to any RASRO participant will be presented to individual countries' representatives on a proportional basis throughout the year".
UNHCR has submitted such no-link (Category 3) cases in this way. Unfortunately several governments have applied resettlement criteria to this category of refugees and rejected them, often near the end of their 90-day guarantee period. Unless these governments prove more flexible in the future, the existence of a RASRO Transit Centre will not in itself be enough to ensure proportionality (properly used, however, it could result in a situation of almost perfect proportionality).
27.
In spite of the administrative problems faced by UNHCR in attempting to achieve proportionality, it is perhaps a mark of qualified success that only four quotas are markedly disproportionate, the three mentioned in paragraph 24, and Japan. Japan is a somewhat special case. What does not appear in Annex 6 is that the resettlement of 30 RASRO refugees (disembarked in Japan) remains to be determined. It is hoped that most of these refugees will eventually accept Japan as their new home, if so use of Japan's quota would approach the norm. It should also be borne in mind that some half of those 99 refugees disembarked in Japan from "DISERO-type" vessels (Annex 4) are likely to remain in Japan.
28. Whilst "continuous proportionality" would be ideal, it is unlikely to be achieved. What is more likely is that over time a series of adjustments can be made to submissions and result in something approaching proportional use of quotas. Eight months is probably too short a time to expect such adjustments to be made and it is proposed to adopt a procedure of "rolling proportionality". This means in effect carrying current inequalities into RASRO's second year to allow a longer adjustment period. It must be stressed however, that proportionality can be achieved only with the cooperation of all governments.
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