Human rights and mass exoduses.

1985/40. Human rights and mass exoduses[1]114

The Commission on Human Rights, Mindful of its general humanitarian mandate under the Charter of the United Nations to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, Deeply disturbed by the continuing scale and magnitude of exoduses of refugees and displacements of population in many regions of the world and at the human suffering of millions of refugees and displaced persons, Conscious of the fact that human rights violations are one of the multiple and complex factors causing mass exoduses of refugees, as indicated in the study of the Special Rapporteur on this subject,[2]115 Considering the efforts which have been made to address this subject within the United Nations, Deeply preoccupied by the increasingly heavy burden being imposed, particularly upon developing countries with limited resources of their own, and upon the International community as a whole, by these sudden mass exoduses and displacements of population, Stressing the need for international co-operation aimed at the averting of new massive flows of refugees parallel with the provision of durable solutions to actual refugee situations, Noting again the report of the Secretary-General on human rights and mass exoduses,[3]116 Recalling its resolutions 30 (XXXVI) of 11 March 1980, 29 (XXXVII) of 11 March 1981, 1982/32 of 11 March 1982, 1983/35 of 8 March 1983 and 1984/49 of 14 March 1984, and General Assembly resolutions 35/196 of 15 December 1980, 37/186 of 17 December 1982, 38/103 of 16 December 1983 and 39/117 of 14 December 1984, Welcoming the steps taken by the Secretary-General to establish an early warning system as mentioned in his report on the work of the Organization,[4]117

1. Welcomes the steps taken so far by the United Nations to examine the problem of massive outflows of refugees and displaced persons in all its aspects, including its root causes;

2. Invites all Governments, as well as international organizations, to intensify their co-operation and assistance in world-wide efforts to address the serious problem of mass exoduses of refugees and displaced persons;

3. Welcomes the interest which the Secretary-General has taken in this question, including the designation of special representatives on humanitarian issues on an ad hoc basis, and reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to follow closely developments in the area of human rights and mass exoduses;

4. Encourages the efforts being undertaken by the Secretary-General to enable the United Nations to anticipate and react more adequately and speedily to cases requiring humanitarian assistance, as mentioned in the Secretary-General's report on the work of the Organization;

5. Requests the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities to keep in mind the need to consider the relationship between violations of human rights and mass exoduses of refugees in its consideration of situations of violations of human rights and to make recommendations on this subject;

6. Recommends that special rapporteurs and special representatives studying situations of violations of human rights pay attention when appropriate to problems resulting in mass exoduses of populations;

7. Decides to keep under review at its forty-second session the problem of human rights and mass exoduses.

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[1]114 Adopted at the 55th meeting, on 13 March 1985, without a vote. See chap. XII. [2]115 E/CN.4/1503 [3]116 A/38/538. [4]117 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 1 (A/39/1).