1. These comments from ICVA on the elements for a draft declaration to be adopted by the Ministerial Meeting under the 1st Track of the Global Consultations are submitted informally to the Permanent Mission of Switzerland.
2. In our view, they do not substitute for comments and input from NGOs in general. In this respect, we call on the Swiss Government and UNHCR to provide for more formal participation of NGOs in the 1st Track of the Global Consultations.
3. In the time allowed for comments on the elements for a draft declaration, this response does not pretend to be anything other than cursory.
4. In order for the 12 December Ministerial Meeting to be more than a ceremonial event or cosmetic exercise, we suggest that the draft declaration be more ambitious in style and content.
5. We believe that the Ministerial Meeting should aim for the following:
   • Accession to the Refugee Convention and/or Protocol and the withdrawal of geographical and temporal limitations on their application.
   • Accession to the Statelessness Conventions.
   • The withdrawal of reservations to the Refugee Convention and/or Protocol and the withdrawal of reservations concerning immigration, asylum and nationality to other human rights treaties, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
   • An improvement in the mechanisms for monitoring implementation of the Refugee Convention and Protocol.

6. The draft declaration should reflect these aims.
7. The language of the draft declaration should import elements of the positive statements made by the Tampere European Council meeting in October 1999, including, inter alia, a determination to ensure a "full and inclusive application of the Refugee Convention, thus ensuring that nobody is sent back to persecution" and commiting States Party to "absolute respect for the right to seek asylum".
8. In the year of UNHCR's "Respect" campaign and the World Conference Against Racism etc, the draft declaration should recognise the inextricable link between racism etc and the forcible displacement and mistreatment of people. States Party should condemn intolerance towards refugees and commit themselves to an active programme of combating expressions of racial intolerance, especially by the mass media.
9. The draft declaration should reinforce the obligation of States under Article 35 to co-operate with UNHCR in its duty of supervising the application of the Convention.
10. The draft declaration should recognise the crucial and indispensable role of NGOs in the protection and assistance provided to refugees (i.e. rephrase para. 11).

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