Preventive Action for Refugee Producing Situations

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224 Chapter 6 grounds for developing innovative and daring approaches, which recall Dag Hammarskjold, moving preventive diplomacy into new lights and perspectives, written down in his 1992 "Agenda for Peace". Most noteworthy is the heavy demand on peace-keeping, peacemaking and peace building, which States still tend, however, not to follow up sufficiently with the necessary funding. An emerging combined approach of humanitarian, political and peace-keeping efforts bring new significance in refugee prevention work. The analysis of UN conflict prevention experience and perspective shows potentials but also limitations for preventing new and recurring refugee situations. Even though the mandate to maintain international peace and security is respected and undisputed, the procedures and facilities often depend on ad-hoc decisions and arrangements. This limits effectiveness and result. While during the Cold War the two super powers retained their sphere of influence through containment policies, often at the cost of refugees and displaced persons, political will of states remains the crucial ingredient for any action with preventive purpose. After long and intensive negotiations among interested governments during 1991, the General Assembly finally resolved to strengthen coordination of humanitarian action. States decided that a coordinator working directly under the Secretary-General was best suited to carry out this task, including undertaking mediation and conflict resolution efforts. Chapter four provides an initial assessment on the first few months of operation of the Department for Humanitarian Affairs at UN Headquarters, which indicate the complexities involved. The unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Yugoslavia and Somalia, have no doubt placed unexpected challenges to the preventive actions of the United Nations system as a whole. It was the UN High Commissioner for Refugees whom the Secretary-General appointed, however, to lead the operations in former Yugoslavia. Considering that there are more than three million refugees and displaced persons inside and outside the former Yugoslavia UNHCR was found most suited UN body to deal with the situation. The expertise and experience of UNHCR, gained over the last forty years of existence, with the leadership of Mrs. Ogata in handling the crisis have earned her support and credibility worldwide. In this context concepts and activities on country of origin work have gained new momentum. The establishing of a new section specifically for this purpose is only one proof of it. An in-house early warning working group, operating since 1989, has also evolved into a more institutionalized mechanism: the UNHCR Early Concluding Remarks 225 Warning Taskforce. Out of this activity is developing UNHCR's active participation in the United Nations interagency working group on early warning, established in 1991. Preventive protection, which the UN High Commissioner defines as prevention of circumstances which force people to leave as another aspect of solutions, would have been unthinkable even four years ago. Of course, for the time being, the concept and actions of preventive protection are understood essentially in the context of the situation in former Yugoslavia. Senseless war and killing naturally makes preventive protection a different option. Nevertheless, the notion is developing, allowing for application when circumstances permit. This in itself is progress compared to previous times, and could evolve eventually into a more broader acceptance and implementation elsewhere. Action in the country of origin to address circumstances of cross border movements is thus slowly emerging as an accepted practice. The issue of sovereignty is slowly gaining new light and interpretation in the direction which was already indicated in the first edition. The states of the international community can no longer ignore the victims of specific practices (which amount to persecution and massive human rights violations) only because they are still in their countries of origin. The call to respect human rights and humanitarian law can no longer be considered merely as lipservice, but rather figures now prominently on international agendas. That the Security Council is functioning again, and able to adopt such resolutions as concerning Iraq and former Yugoslavia, would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. They did perhaps not stop refugee movements. But is is unclear what exactly would have happened without them. Evidence shows, however, that without them the human suffering could have been much worse. Of course, there is still war in several parts of the world. Preventive action, now and in the next few years, is likely to be more effective, only in small specific situations. It is only known when preventive action has not prevented refugees and war. Seldom are reports publicly available of preventive actions' failures or successes. Still, the approach to prevent rather than to cure is gaining acceptance as the most desirable course of action. Consequently, the preventive course is advancing towards a more proactive approach to promote human rights, democracy and peace. Preventing circumstances forcing people to flee is a part of mat process.
226 UNHCR Statistics on Refugee Population Worldwide as at 1 January 1992 December 1991 LIST OF STATES PARTY TO THE 1951 UN CONVENTION AND/OR THE 1967 PROTOKOL RELATING TO THE STATUS OF REFUGERS States Party to the 195: UN Convention : 106 States Party to the 1967 Protocol : 107 States Party States Party to both the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol to either one or both of these instruments : : 103 110 AFRICA! Algeria Gabon Rwanda Angola Gambia Sao Tome and Principe Benin Ghana Senegal Botswana Guinea Seychelles Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Sierra Leone Burundi Kenya Somalia Cameroon Cape Verde (P) Lesotho Liberia Sudan Swaziland (P) Central African Republic Madagascar (C)* Togo Chad Congo Malawi Mali Tunisia Uganda Cote d'Ivoire Mauritania United Republic of Tanzania Djibouti Egypt Morocco Mozambique Zaire Zambia Equatorial Guinea Niger Zimbabwe Ethiopia Nigeria AMERICAS: Argentina Dominican Republic Panama Belize Ecuador Paraguay Bolivia Brazil El Salvador Guatemala Peru Suriname Canada Haiti United States of America (P) Chile Colombia Jamaica Nicaragua Uruguay Venezuela (P) Costa Rica ASIA: China Israel Philippines Iran, Islamic Republic of Japan Yemen EUROPE: Austria Hungary* Norway Belgium Cyprus Iceland Ireland Poland Portugal Czechoslovakia Denmark 2) Italy Liechtenstein Romania Spain Finland France 3) Luxembourg Malta* Sweden Switzerland Germany 4) Greece Monaco (C)* Netherlands 5) Turkey* United Kingdom 6) Holy See Yugoslavia OCEANIA! Australia 1) Hew Zealand Samoa (C) Fiji Papua New Guinea Tuvalu 227 UNHCR, October 1992 Source:
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Luise Drüke Preventive Action for
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European University Studies Europä
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Foreword It is a pleasure to welcom
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10 office. The Under Secretary-Gene
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14 origin information work, with a
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18 Part II "New Approaches and thei
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22 Chapter 1 the consequences inste
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26 Chapter 1 [To] call upon member
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30 Chapter 1 20 million according t
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34 Chapter 1 Introduction 35 abroad
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38 Chapter 1 Consideration of Commu
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42 Chapter 1 grassroots efforts in
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46 Chapter 2 international interven
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50 Chapter 2 In 1981, the U.N. Comm
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54 Chapter 2 Prof. Theodoor van Bov
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58 Chapter 2 producing conflicts ta
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62 Chapter 2 in order to arrive at
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66 Chapter 2 UNHCR to provide detai
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70 Chapter 2 rientation of foreign
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74 Chapter 3 This has happened in V
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78 Chapter 3 3.1.2.1. The OOP (Orde
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82 Chapter 3 steady deterioration o
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86 Chapter 3 Principal pull factors
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90 Chapter 3 These and the general
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94 Chapter 3 settlement was a decis
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98 Chapter 3 a) Vietnam was unwilli
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102 Chapter 3 return of nonrefugees
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106 Chapter 3 other than the USA, m
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110 Chapter 3 groups, "15th of Sept
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114 Chapter 3 practically from the
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118 Chapter 3 We understand from Pr
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Page 105 and 106: 206 Chapter 5 North, no massive ref
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Page 109 and 110: 214 Chapter 5 Secretary-General to
Page 111 and 112: 218 Chapters rights and to make con
Page 113: Concluding remarks 1 Chapter 6 223
Page 118 and 119: 230 REFUGIADOS BA.JO MANDATO DEL AC
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Page 122: 236 ANNEX IV UNBCR EXPENDITURE 1967
Page 125 and 126: 240 2 Appendices 241 Memorandum of
Page 127 and 128: 244 Appendices Interviews conducted
Page 129 and 130: 248 Appendices UN UN tumees, wherec
Page 131 and 132: 252 Selected Bibliography San Remo:
Page 133 and 134: 256 Selected Bibliography Selected
Page 135 and 136: 260 Selected Bibliography MORRIS, G
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Page 143: This book provides an empirical ana
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