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8.
The UNHCR Executive Committee also agreed with the Australian proposal and requested the convening of a group of experts to examine temporary refuge in all its aspects within the framework of problems raised by large-scale influx. This Group met at Geneva 21-24 April 81 (flag I). Emphasis was placed on the need to adopt a humanitarian approach to the question of the temporary stay of asylum-seekers and their basic human rights.
It was suggested that it was now generally recognised that where life was in danger, states should give at least temporary asylum. This formed an important step towards the universal recognition of an individual right to asylum. Likewise, the principle of non-refoulement was a peremptory norm of international law, and the principle should be upheld. Debate centred on whether or not there was a need for the establishment of a separate legal concept on the standards for treatment of persons admitted to a territory on temporary basis. There was widespread agreement that the 1951 Convention, although distinguishing between the standard of treatment to be accorded to refugees who were lawfully in a territory and those who had entered illegally, did not constitute an implicit recognition of a specific category of temporary refuge. Indeed, the rights mentioned represented a minimum standard in addition to complementing rights set out in other instruments, and were applicable to all persons irrespective of whether or not they were in the territory legally or illegally. Several experts did, however, point out the difficulties in establishing the degree of protection which should be afforded in the case of a mass influx of asylum seekers.
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9.
The discussions of the subsequent Sub-Committee meeting on International Protection, (8-9 October 81) centred inter alia, on temporary refuge and the rescue of asylum-seekers at sea. The conclusions on temporary refuge reached by the Group of Experts earlier in the year, were adopted.
10. At the following Session of the UNHCR Executive Committee (the 32nd), the Director of International Protection drew attention to important developments in the field of international protection (flag K). Asylum was now widely granted by States, and the peremptory character of the principle of non-refoulement had been repeatedly reaffirmed. Regional cooperation had led to greater protection of refugees in certain areas. In particular there had been wide acceptance of the definition of the term "refugee" (as used in the OAU Refugee Convention) by groups of Jurists and legal experts outside the region, especially by the Group of Experts which had met in Geneva in April 1981. There was debate on the definition of the term "refugee". Some speakers believed that the widened 1969 OAU Refugee Convention definition together with that contained
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CONFIDENTIAL
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