Reply to Recommendation 1356 (1998) - Activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1994-97

Doc. 8140

15 June 1998

Activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1994-97

Reply to Recommendation 1356 (1998)

from the Committee of Ministers

adopted on 9 June 1998 at the 635^th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies

The Committee of Ministers has carefully examined Recommendation 1356 (1998) of the Parliamentary Assembly on activities of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1994-1997 and wishes to give the following reply.

The Committee of Ministers is satisfied with the increasing level of co-operation between the Council of Europe and the UNHCR. This process has been facilitated, notably by the establishment of a UNHCR liaison office at the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg. The Committee of Ministers welcomed the visit and address by the High Commissioner, Ms S. Ogata at the Parliamentary Assembly in January 1998 as well as the frequent consultations between the Secretary General and the High Commissioner in recent years.

The preventive approach to refugee situations, as emphasised by the Assembly, is essential in reducing both the level of human suffering and the problems faced by the international community at potential refugee generating situations. Regional co-operation and
co-ordination between appropriate international organisations, including the Council of Europe and the UNHCR, is essential in this context.

The Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on Legal Aspects of Territorial Asylum, Refugees and Stateless Persons (CAHAR) is entrusted by the Committee of Ministers, inter alia, to develop practical and legal solutions to the problems faced by member States in the field of asylum and stateless persons. Through the work of this Committee, the Committee of Ministers maintains an interest and adopts recommendations and opinions on pertinent questions of refugee protection. The recent Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers on the safe third country concept (Recommendation (97) 22) and the draft recommendation on the right to an effective remedy by rejected asylum seekers who face expulsion are some of the examples of this.

With respect to paragraph 7 of the Recommendation of the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers recalls that:

- there is already a wide-ranging co-operation in various fields of common concern between the Council of Europe and the UNHCR, including within the framework of co-operation and assistance programmes of the Council of Europe, for example, the examination of the "propiska system" in some countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the development of NGO legislation in the CIS countries;

- furthermore, the UNHCR has participated in the High-Level Tripartite Meetings between the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the United Nations held so far – as well as in the respective “Target-Oriented Tripartite Meetings” on the Caucasian countries and on Albania – aimed at sharing information, improving practical co-operation, drawing on each other’s expertise so as co-ordinate activities and achieving synergy of efforts. The Council of Europe and the UNHCR are also co-operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of legal reforms and human rights, for example in organising training courses for judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers;

- the question of lending for refugees-related projects is already a priority of the Social Development Fund. As regards the increase of such projects for States which are not yet Fund members as well as a possible collaboration to that effect with the UNHCR, the Committee of Ministers will transmit the present Recommendation to the Governing Board of the Social Development Fund, for information and possible action;

- the UNHCR is already represented as a regular participant, in an observer capacity, at plenary and working party meetings of the CAHAR and several other intergovernmental committees of the Council of Europe;

- the Committee of Ministers is in favour of signature, ratification and effective implementation without any geographical limitation and of the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees by member States and States applying for membership;

- as regards the integration of databases from the UNHCR into the computer system of the Council of Europe, it should be noted that all data provided by the UNHCR on CD-ROM will be shortly transferred to an Internet site. Moreover, the UNHCR can access the public databases of the Council of Europe, via Internet, at a number of specialised sites (Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly, European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) etc…). Furthermore, by the end of 1998, the new HUDOC application will enable research possibilities using the entire human rights case-law;

- the Committee of Ministers supports the implementation of internationally accepted principles and norms of refugee protection as well as the need for adequate contributions by the international community for the successful implementation of the tasks with which the UNHCR is entrusted.