Human rights and mass exoduses : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

  • Author: UN General Assembly (41st sess. : 1986-1987)
  • Document source:
  • Date:
    4 December 1986

The General Assembly,

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 by 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 of the Commission on Human Rights on this subject,

Considering the efforts which have been made to address this subject within the United Nations, in particular by the Commission on Human Rights,

Aware of the recommendations concerning mass exoduses made by the Commission on Human Rights to its Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and to special rapporteurs when studying violations of human rights in any part of the world,

Deeply preoccupied by the increasingly heavy burden being imposed upon the international community as a whole, particularly upon developing countries with limited resources of their own, by these sudden mass exoduses and displacements of population,

Stressing the need to improve international co-operation aimed at the prevention of new massive flows of refugees in parallel with the provision of durable solutions to actual refugee situations,

Taking note of the final report of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Co-operation to Avert New Flows of Refugees,

Taking note once again of the report of the Secretary-General on human rights and mass exoduses,

Recalling its resolutions 35/196 of 15 December 1980, 37/186 of 17 December 1982, 38/103 of 16 December 1983, 39/117 of 14 December 1984 and 40/149 of 13 December 1985 and Commission on Human Rights 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, 1984/49 of 14 March 1984, 1985/40 of 13 March 1985 and 1986/45 of 12 March 1986,

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 submitted to the General Assembly at its forty-first session,

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 Governments and 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 special interest which the Secretary-General has taken in this question, and reiterates its request to him to follow closely developments in the field 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 report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization submitted to the General Assembly at its thirty-ninth session;

5.         Invites the Commission on Human Rights to keep the question of human rights and mass exoduses under review with a view to making appropriate recommendations concerning the further measures to be taken in this matter;

6.         Decides to review the question of human rights and mass exoduses at its forty-second session.

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