GENEVA, 14 OCTOBER 1997


Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Ogata, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honor and a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to address this session of the Executive Committee of UNHCR. I wish to pay warm tribute to Mrs. Ogata and her staff in UNHCR. I note her concerns expressed yesterday about the lack of willingness of states to take adequate responsibility following the genocidal killings in Rwanda in 1994, which has compounded the difficulties in the situation of refugees in the region and is linked to the current serious problems in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As underlined by the High Commissioner for Refugees in her last statement to the Commission on Human Rights, there are strong links between the work of our Offices. Human rights are deeply connected to the problem of refugees: first and foremost because human rights violations often represent the root-causes of refugee flows and, secondly, because the problem of refugees can be properly managed and effectively solved only through an improvement in the standards of protection of human rights. In this regard, I completely share the High Commissioner’s opinion that refugee protection should be considered within the broader framework of international human rights.

We must however strengthen and operationalize the linkages between our Offices and, in so doing, tackle together the root causes of refugees flows and more generally of displacement. Making these links stronger is crucial not only for the solution of displacement crises, but also for their prevention, since it is only in addressing root causes that durable solutions can be found, and the risk of further displacement mitigated.

Reflecting the fact that forced migration is intrinsically a human rights issue, the UN machinery has focused more and more on different aspects of this phenomenon, addressing related questions including human rights and mass exoduses, internally displaced persons, the right to return, population transfers, and so on. Our shared interest in the relationship between human rights and refugees is also being increasingly reflected in our respective activities in the field.

At the same time, there remains a need to place much greater emphasis on the rights to remain and to return, and to develop the law in these directions. An important contribution made towards this aim is the in-depth legal study undertaken by the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, regarding the extent to which international law provides protection from arbitrary displacement and protection for those affected by this phenomenon. On the basis of this analysis, the Representative is in the process of finalizing a comprehensive set of Guiding Principles addressing protection against arbitrary displacement, protection for the internally displaced, and protection for returning displaced persons which will be presented to the Commission on Human Rights at its next session.

During this past year, it has become increasingly apparent that the return of refugees and internally displaced persons often takes place to countries or areas where the causes of flight, involving inevitably human rights violations, have not been entirely eliminated. Return under such circumstances is bound to be not only short-lived, but often very dangerous for those returning. Only if countries of origin guarantee the returnees’s physical and material security, can return be sustainable and reintegration effective. When successfully carried out, it can make an important contribution to consolidating peace and stability in the countries concerned.

Insofar as the protection of human rights is a prerequisite for sustainable return and effective reintegration, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has the duty to work together with UNHCR in the search for durable solutions to the plight of displaced populations. In recent years, our Office has begun to develop such a role through the pursuit of two strategies: monitoring returns to ensure that they occur in conditions of safety and dignity, and assisting in the creation of conditions conducive to return through the improvement of the national human rights situation. In Rwanda, for instance, both of our Offices undertook responsibilities for monitoring the return of refugees and internally displaced persons. As this same case has demonstrated, however, monitoring must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that it occurs in conditions of safety and dignity. The challenge of ensuring the sustainability of return is particularly great in war-torn societies.

Durable solutions to the problem of displacement often require significant efforts towards reconstruction and reconciliation. The effort of reconstruction may involve the demilitarization and reintegration of combatants, the creation of mechanisms for punishing crimes related to the conflict, the strengthening of civil society structures, and measures to promote equity in the field of political, social and economic rights. In this regard the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights can make an important contribution through its technical cooperation and advisory service programme, assisting Governments in the creation or strengthening of national human rights institutions - and working with local NGOs. I am aware of your pilot projects in the field of education for peace, conflict resolution and human rights education. In addition, guaranteeing strong support to civil society is essential to ensuring reconciliation and peaceful coexistence and to averting circumstances inducing flight. I am pleased to have received a copy of your recent policy paper ‘UNHCR and human rights’ highlighting these linkages.

Inherent in the concept of human rights is the notion of non-discrimination between returning and local populations. In this regard it is important to highlight that durable solutions to the plight of displaced populations must involve the whole community. Caution must be taken not only to avoid discrimination against returnees, but also to assure that efforts to address returnees’ needs do not in any way negatively affect the local, non-displaced population. An holistic, community-based approach is critical to ensuring social stability in areas of return and, in such a way, contributes to the solution of existing displacement and in the prevention of future such problems.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights are increasingly engaged in similar activities and in joint actions. Let me highlight some examples: our Offices collaborated in the formulation of a Programme of Action aimed at providing CIS Conference states with the tools necessary to prevent, manage and resolve problems of forced migration in a manner consistent with human rights; furthermore in 1998, in the framework of the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Five-Year Implementation Review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, my Office and the UNHCR will jointly sponsor an expert panel and a publication on “Human Rights, Refugees and Displaced Persons”.

Given our common interest and similarity of activities, it is important to ensure complementarity of action. UNHCR has expanded its role in countries of origin, assuming even greater responsibility for the outcome of the refugees’ return. The challenge of ensuring the sustainability of return however extends far beyond the mandate and capacities of any single organization, and instead requires the active role of a variety of multilateral actors, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

At present, cooperation between our Offices occurs on an informal basis, through the day-to-day contacts among the staff, both at the Headquarters and at field level. There is a need to strengthen and formalize this bilateral cooperation, including through the holding of joint meetings, exchange of staff, and co-sponsorship of staff training.

The ongoing UN process of reform should improve cooperation among our institutions and ensure greater comprehensiveness and consistency in the system-wide response to refugee problems. The participation of my Office in the four Executive Committees, including one on humanitarian affairs, should ensure an harmonization of the work programmes, and strengthen the international response to humanitarian crisis. Furthermore the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Representative of the Secretary-General on internally displaced persons, have received standing invitations to participate in the meetings of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), which has responsibilities for formulating strategic policies, operational decisions and establishment of coordination arrangements in the field. This development should promote a sharpened focus on strategies against forced displacement and, ensure that the human rights perspective is included in inter-agency deliberations. I am very interested in the Canadian Guidelines on Women Refugees and believe we can work together to make the Refugee Convention more gender sensitive.

At the field level, a clear sharing of responsibilities among our Offices can be obtained through the conclusion of Memoranda of Understanding, as has already occurred in the context of the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. I would be happy to explore a broader MOU to deepen our overall cooperation.

The establishment of field presences is a recent and significant development in the activities of my Office. The usefulness of this activity has been widely recognized and the establishment of field presences increasingly requested. I have the intention to make full use of this mechanism and to further strengthen the operational capacity of my Office in this regard. The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, through its extensive field presence, could assist my Office, signaling those situations requiring human rights operations, suggesting ways in which these operations could complement UNHCR’s activities, and providing logistical support to the OHCHR’ field presence.

Where UNHCR’s mandate limits its own involvement, as in post-conflict situations, the phasing out of its operations create a gap to be filled by other actors. It would be very useful for my Office to be alerted about such situations, in order to provide displaced persons with adequate support in the process of return and reintegration.

Mr. Chairman, Mrs. Ogata, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It must be emphasized that the relationship between human rights and refugees goes far beyond the provision of Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The links between them are so strong that only comprehensive solutions can resolve present and future problems. I look very much forward to working closely with you - Mrs. Ogata - to find complementarities and new synergies in the activities of our respective offices so as to ensure the highest possible degree of protection to the victims of displacement.

Thank you