TNAG-1543-FCO40-2107-United-Nations-High-Commissioner-for-Refugees-(UNHCR)-Execut-1986 — Page 63

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17. This long speech also covered the financial position of UNHCR, European asylum seekers, France's new visa requirements, irregular movements, durable solutions, the situation in Thailand, mass exoduses, legal instruments, coherence of UNHCR programmes, improvement in the information available and balancing of UNHCR's budget.

18. Austria was the next to speak. As a country of first asylum they saw the core of UNHCR's activities as protection. They called for universal ratification of the relevant instruments, especially by those which give refuge to refugees. They also called on nations receiving support through UNHCR programmes to provide UNHCR with the most favourable exchange rate. They also called for proposals to remedy the relatively poor pay received by UNHCR field workers in comparison with HQ workers.

19. Italy in their speech welcomed the moves towards closer cooperation with other UN organisations. They also stressed that asylum seekers no longer were purely political but also came for social and economic reasons. They gave their support to self-sufficiency programmes, stating that what was needed was not just palliatives but also longer-term solutions. They announced that their contributions in 1986 to UNHCR had amounted to $20 m that is three times their 1985 contribution. This included their announcement in the speech of 89 m for the Africa emergency.

20.

The main points in the FRG speech were as follows:

(a) That they would reserve judgement on UNHCR's reorganisation until we all had time to observe its effect.

(b) More attention had to be paid to the

root causes of refugee movement and to tie reaction with a view to

(c)

preventing such movements.

This

called for early warning and coordination of appropriate measures in an international framework. They called for support for the report of the Group of UN Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees at the 41st session of UNGA.

Asylum seekers. The FRG received 58% of all asylum seekers arriving in Europe ie. 34,950 in the first five months of 1986. This placed a very heavy burden on the Federal Republic, costs amounted to DM2.5 b in 1985 alone. This placed a limit on the amount of additional obligations Germany could accept.

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