TNAG-1796-FCO40-2556-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 38

nvoke reasons on their own ces under the 1951 Conven- e principle of family unity ist them.

oes not only operate where e time. It applies equally to disrupted through the flight

estroyed by divorce, separ- nted refugee status on the atus unless they fall within ot have reasons other than retain refugee status; or if

as refugees.

n the terms of one of the d to him.

PART TWO

Procedures for the Determination of Refugee Status

A. General

189. It has been seen that the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol define who is a refugee for the purposes of these instruments. It is obvious that, to enable States parties to the Convention and to the Protocol to implement their provisions, refugees have to be identified. Such identifi- cation, i.e. the determination of refugee status, although mentioned in the 1951 Convention (cf. Article 9), is not specifically regulated. In particular, the Convention does not indicate what type of procedures are to be adopted for the determination of refugee status. It is therefore left to each Con- tracting State to establish the procedure that it considers most appropriate, having regard to its particular constitutional and administrative structure. 190. It should be recalled that an applicant for refugee status is normally in a particularly vulnerable situation. He finds himself in an alien environ- ment and may experience serious difficulties, technical and psychological, in submitting his case to the authorities of a foreign country, often in a language not his own. His application should therefore be examined within the framework of specially established procedures by qualified personnel having the necessary knowledge and experience, and an understanding of an applicant's particular difficulties and needs.

191. Due to the fact that the matter is not specifically regulated by the 1951 Convention, procedures adopted by States parties to the 1951 Con- vention and to the 1967 Protocol vary considerably. In a number of countries, refugee status is determined under formal procedures specifically established for this purpose. In other countries, the question of refugee status is considered within the framework of general procedures for the admission of aliens. In yet other countries, refugee status is determined under informal arrangements, or ad hoc for specific purposes, such as the issuance of travel documents.

192. In view of this situation and of the unlikelihood that all States bound by the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol could establish identical procedures, the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Pro- gramme, at its twenty-eighth session in October 1977, recommended that

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