EC/SCP/65 page 5 17. In effect, resettlement from South-East Asia was geared to protect the right of first asylum in the region and the scale of the exercise, which in large part became automatic, also in time took on many characteristics of immigration rather than refugee resettlement. The provisions of the Comprehensive Plan of Action on Indo-Chinese Refugees (CPA) have sought to address this, unique, not to say anomalous, situation. The introduction in the region of refugee determination procedures for persons arriving after certain cut-off dates promises gradually to bring resettlement practices in South-East Asia into line with standard resettlement procedures elsewhere, i.e. resettlement as one option and not the only answer to massive movements of persons. Again, on a regional level, resettlement from Eastern Europe, which was another focus of operations over the past decades, has radically changed. Movements of people from these countries have recently assumed more of an immigration character, requiring responses generally more closely tailored to immigration arrangements. 18. Concurrent with these major international changes as well as regional developments is the increasing emphasis placed on voluntary repatriation and the creation of conditions conducive to this durable solution. The International Conference on Central American Refugees (CIREFCA) and programmes for Afghans, Cambodians and, more recently, Iraqi Kurds are illustrative of this development and also signal the difficulties inherent in such programmes. The international community is also increasingly aware that more aid to poor countries will be necessary to attack some of the root causes which contribute to mass migratory movements and refugee flows. 19. Despite recent dramatic changes in international relations, inter-state and ethnic conflicts will continue into the post cold war era and such conflicts will inevitably generate refugee flows which, in turn, will require resettlement for protection reasons of a certain number of deserving cases. Conclusion 20. Rather than massive resettlement operations which have characterized the situation in South-East Asia over the past decade, resettlement exercises in the 1990s are likely to be more protection-oriented, and could often involve smaller numbers. Given the changing political landscape, conditions for, and obstacles to, resettlement as well as flexibility by governments to new situations, merits consideration. While UNHCR's annual resettlement requirements may involve smaller numbers, the underlying protection element in resettlement will be more compelling and require, in turn, a more rapid and flexible response by governments. Protection should take precedence over immigration criteria and preference for admission of certain nationalities. 21. The flexibility should also be manifested in the readiness of governments to raise or lower quotas, or at least the percentages of those quotas foreseen for UNHCR resettlement admission, contingent upon rapidly changing needs. Given the dynamics of the international situation, most recently evidenced by the Gulf conflict, standard resettlement may at times be seriously disrupted, if not supplanted, by emergency operations or voluntary repatriation. To deal effectively with such situations it is advisable that EC/SCP/65 page 6 annual government admission ceilings comprise a significant contingency reserve for unallocated nationalities, which would be available depending on need. Note EC/SCP/65 1/ On burden-sharing, the promotion of resettlement when no other durable A/AC.96/702. UNHCR RESETTLEMENT NEEDS IN 1990 AND 1991 SOURCE: UNHCR SUBJECT: Determination of FY 1993 Refugee Admissions Act In accordance with section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act ("the Act") (8 U.S.c. 1157), and after appropriate consultation with the Congress, I hereby make the following determinations and authorize the following actions: a. The admission of up to 132,000 refugees to the United States during FY 1993 is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest; provided, however, that this number shall be understood as including persons admitted to the United States during FY 1993 with Federal refugee resettlement assistance under the Amerasian immigrant admissions program, as provided in paragraph (b) below. b. Ten thousand of these admissions numbers shall be set The 122,000 funded admissions shall be allocated |