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

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 increasing scale and magnitude of exoduses of refugees and displacements of population in many regions of the world and by the 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 and displaced persons, as indicated in the study of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on this subject and also in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees,

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

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 cooperation aimed at averting new massive flows of refugees while providing durable solutions to actual refugee situations,

Reaffirming its resolution 41/70 of 3 December 1986, in which it endorsed the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees,

Bearing in mind its resolution 45/153 of 18 December 1990 and Commission on Human Rights resolution 1991/73 of 6 March 1991, as well as all previous relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights,

Welcoming 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,

Noting that the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has specifically acknowledged the direct relationship between observance of human rights standards, refugee movements and problems of protection,

1.         Reaffirms its support for the recommendation of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees that the principal organs of the United Nations should make fuller use of their respective competencies under the Charter of the United Nations for the prevention of new massive flows of refugees and displaced persons;

2.         Again invites all Governments and intergovernmental and humanitarian organizations concerned to intensify their cooperation with and assistance to world-wide efforts to address the serious problems resulting from mass exoduses of refugees and displaced persons, and also the causes of such exoduses;

3.         Requests all Governments to ensure the effective implementation of the relevant international instruments, in particular in the field of human rights, as this would contribute to averting new massive flows of refugees and displaced persons;

4.         Invites the Commission on Human Rights to keep the question of human rights and mass exoduses under review with a view to supporting the early-warning arrangement instituted by the Secretary-General to avert new massive flows of refugees and displaced persons;

5.         Notes with appreciation the emphasis placed by the Secretary- General in his annual report on the work of the Organization, on the need to develop the capacity of the United Nations for early warning and preventive diplomacy to help deter humanitarian crises;

6.         Reiterates, in this regard, its previous resolutions on the question of human rights and mass exoduses and requests the Secretary-General, in the further development of the capacity of the Secretariat for early warning and preventive diplomacy, to pay particular attention to international cooperation to avert new flows of refugees;

7.         Notes in this connection that mass movements of populations are caused by multiple and complex factors, either man-made or natural, ranging from wars and armed conflicts, invasions and aggressions, violations of human rights, forcible expulsions, economic and social factors, natural disasters, to degradation in the environment, which indicates that early warning requires an intersectoral and multidisciplinary approach;

8.         Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on human rights and mass exoduses, and reiterates its request that future reports include information concerning the modalities and operations of early-warning activities to avert new and massive flows of refugees;

9.         Specially encourages the Secretary-General to continue to discharge the task described in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees, including the continuous monitoring of all potential outflows, and to implement the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit contained in its report entitled "The coordination of activities related to early warning of possible refugee flows";

10.       Requests the Secretary-General to intensify his efforts to develop the role of the Office for Research and the Collection of Information of the Secretariat as a focal point for the operation of an effective early-warning system and the strengthening of coordination of information-gathering and analysis among United Nations agencies with a view to preventing new massive flows of refugees and displaced persons;

11.       Reiterates the importance of the early-warning function of the Office for Research and the Collection of Information;

12.       Urges the Secretary-General to allocate the necessary resources to consolidate and strengthen the system for undertaking early-warning activities in the humanitarian area by, inter alia, the computerization of the Office for Research and the Collection of Information and strengthened coordination among the relevant parts of the United Nations system, especially the Office for Research and the Collection of Information, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Centre for Human Rights of the Secretariat and the relevant specialized agencies;

13.       Welcomes the information in the report of the Secretary-General that a temporary post is expected to become available in the biennium 1992-1993 in order that a computer specialist can be recruited to further the development of the date system of the Office for Research and the Collection of Informationy;

14.       Requests the Secretary-General to make the necessaryinformation available to the competent United Nations organs, bearing in mind the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit on coordination;

15.       Invites bodies of the United Nations system to consider the most expedient ways and means of following up the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit on coordination;

16.       Welcomes the initiation of close contacts between the Office for Research and the Collection of Information and a large number of United Nations agencies and offices in pursuit of a system-wide network for early warning of potential mass exoduses;

17.       Welcomes also the establishment by the Administrative Committee on Coordination of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Early Warning regarding New Flows of Refugees and Displaced Persons with a mandate to develop an effective early-warning system related to possible flows of refugees and displaced persons, including practical measures of cooperation and procedures for gathering, analysing and disseminating information in a timely manner to all concerned, and to make recommendations on the need for an inter-agency consultative mechanism;

18.       Urges the Ad Hoc Working Group to carry out its mandate and submit to the Administrative Committee on Coordination in 1992 its report on the early-warning mechanism to be established;

19.       Emphasizes the significance of this task of the Ad Hoc Working Group in view of the continuing situation with regard to mass exoduses;

20.       Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session on the strengthened role that he is playing in undertaking early-warning activities, especially in the humanitarian area, as well as on any further developments relating to the recommendations contained in the report of the Group of Governmental Experts on International Cooperation to Avert New Flows of Refugees;

21.       Invites the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly informed of the efforts to follow up recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit;

22.       Also invites the Secretary-General to include in his report to the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session detailed information on the programmatic, institutional, administrative, financial, and managerial efforts instituted to enhance the capacity of the United Nations to avert new flows of refugees and to tackle the root causes of such outflows;

23.       Decides to continue consideration of the question of human rights and mass exoduses at its forty-seventh session.