Preventive Action for Refugee Producing Situations

26 Chapter 1
[To] call upon member States, for the purposes of averting new massive flows of
refugees, to respect in particular the following obligations... contained in the Charter:
[to] use peaceful means [to] refrain from creating or contributing by their policies to
causes and factors which generally lead to refugees... 17
The group further suggested to the Secretary-General to make full use of his
competencies by giving continuing attention to the question of averting new
refugee flows, ensuring timely and fuller information in the Secretariat, and
improving the coordination of information needed to make early
assessments, in consultation with the states directly concerned. 18 The
Secretary-General translated these suggestions into action, along with a
recommendation made by another group to consolidate several political
affairs offices, 19 by creating a central Office for Research and the Collection
of Information (ORCI), which he established in March 1987. 20 This latter
move, ironically, received its primary impetus from the well-documented
financial crisis in the United Nations in the mid eighties which necessitated
the consolidation of overlapping departments. The Secretary-General made
a virtue of necessity by peremptorily creating ORCI without undertaking
extensive consultations with member states. The ORCI was to centralize the
collection and dissemination of publicly available data, monitor factors
related to possible refugee outflows, identify threats to peace at an early
stage, 21 keep the Secretary-General informed about developing crises, and
carry out adhoc research and make pertinent assessments for the immediate
attention of the Secretary-General. 22 At the time of revising this book for the
second edition, ORCI after having faced considerable challenges, both from
within the Secretariat and from outside has been disolved in March 1992
and its functions were integrated into the New
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17 U.N. Doc. A/41/324,13 May 1986, P. 17.
18 UN Doc. A/41/324, p. 18.
19 Report of the Group of High-Level Intergovernmental Experts to Review the
Efficiency of the Administrative and Financial Functioning of the United Nations,
UN Doc. Supplement No.49 A/41/49, (New York: United Nations, 1986), p. 13.
20 ST/SGB/225,1 March 1987.
21 Reform and Renewal in the United Nations: Progress Report of the Secretary-
General on the implementation of the General Assembly resolution 41/213, U.N.
Doc. A/42/234, (New York: United Nations, 1987), p. 9.
22 United Nations, Secretary-General's Bulletin, UN doc. ST/SGB/225, 1 March
1987, Office for Research and the Collection of Information. (New York: United
Nations, 1987).
Introduction 27
Departments for Humanitarian Affairs and for Political Affairs. 23 In
seeking information and drawing on analyses prepared by outside
researchers and nongovernmental bodies, ORCI was the first political
office in the Secretariat to use outside contacts in carrying out its regular
functions. 24 In order to function successfully, it would have needed more
support within the UN system and from member states. Despite the many
positive UN efforts, the problem of political will remains. International
preventive action cannot be achieved solely by adding yet another office
to the UN system; the member states themselves must play a greater role.
One of the most important stumbling blocks is still, of course» the
unresolved tension between states' sovereignty and the protection of the
individual, making intervention in refugee-producing situations difficult.
Revolutionary changes in the international climate will provide for new
opportunities in refugee prevention. The study, in its rewritten parts shows
how new approaches and policies are emerging as models of international
interaction and non-intervention with reference to refugee producing
situations.
1.2. General Outline of the dissertation
The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze ways in which situations
causing refugee flows might be more effectively dealt with in order to
diminish the consequences in human suffering. 25 Flowing from the
empirical and analytical discussions, the book shows in Chapter 4 that
there is a new cooperative mechanism emerging between political affairs,
peace-keeping, peace-making and refugee matters. The international
community, through UNHCR, with the support of governmental and
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23 Chapter 2.2.2. discussing the activities of the ORCI Office, has not been revised,
as the changes under the new Secretary-General Boutros- Boutros Ghali arc
still is process.
24 James Jonah, "Monitoring Factors Related to Refugee Flows and Comparable
Emergencies: the Role of the Secretary-General's Office for Research and the
Collection of Information," paper presented at the '7. Internationale Fachtagung
zum Asylrecht, zur Flüchtlings- und Ausländerproblematik vom 28. bis 31.
Januar 1988 in Florenz' organized by the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, p. 9.
25 The thesis focuses on those situations that might be remediable, leaving aside
those in which the only way for the persecuted to survive is by fleeing. In such
cases, international preventive action is probably impossible and in any case
undesirable, since every effort must be concentrated on facilitating quick exit
and safe refuge.