Global Consultations on International Protection

REPORT

ICVA Meeting Prior to the Ministerial Conference

Palais des Nations
Geneva, 11 December 2001

On the eve of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, NGOs met in the presence of UNHCR and the Swiss Government and agreed upon the urgent need to find better means of enhancing the implementation of the Convention in a meeting held in advance of the Ministerial Conference.

NGOs agreed that the 50th anniversary of the Refugee Convention provides an opportunity to evaluate critically the current protection system. In all of the subjects identified for discussion in the Global Consultations, it is the problem of implementation of the Refugee Convention rather than problems with the Convention itself which comes up again and again. The meeting examined a project to examine what lessons can be learnt from other supervisory mechanisms and what best practice might be transported into a possible new model to supervise the Refugee Convention. This project has been undertaken by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and the Programme in Asylum Law of the University of Michigan Law School.

ICVA said that the Working Papers resulting from this joint project are intended to start discussion of strengthened implementation of the Refugee Convention. ICVA was tasked at the meeting to ensure that this process of NGO engagement with the issue is followed up within the context of the process agreed in the Declaration of the Ministerial Conference and the UNHCR Agenda for Protection. The meeting looked at reporting, general comments, complaints and investigation mechanisms. Elements of all four of these types of mechanisms were found to be valuable in upholding international law and finding solutions to problems and could be transported into the Refugee Convention.

One of the main points made at the meeting by both NGOs and UNHCR is that UNHCR's activities in direct and indirect protection are largely unheralded but are critical to the maintenance of the refugee protection regime. No new monitoring mechanism can or should seek to replace these activities. The trick of any new mechanism, then, is to ensure that its work complements and enhances the work of the UNHCR not merely formally- in the sense of supporting or even highlighting the mandate of the High Commissioner- but in practical ways to assist the daily protection activities of the Office. One of the themes of the meeting was the need to shield the High Commissioner from attacks which could harm protection activities while assisting the Office to supervise the Convention. UNHCR agreed that it had no monopoly on implementation of its monitoring function, a task which could be shared.

A proposal suggested by a few NGOs in Geneva that the High Commissioner could use his existing powers to appoint an "advisory group" of high-standing experts was welcomed as a boost to the Office's efforts but could not be seen as replacing the need for a mechanism to monitor implementation of the Convention.

The meeting felt that there was a need for the Convention to be interpreted in a way that allows States Party to understand their responsibilities and to be monitored in a way that holds States accountable which demands, therefore, an independent mechanism that is unburdened by the constraints upon UNHCR. A mechanism separate from UNHCR should ideally supplement the protection work of UNHCR and fill in the gaps in supervision rather than detract from them. Effective supervision of the treaty would allow UNHCR to focus on its protection work, could foster state compliance in a way that would ease interstate tension, and ultimately would improve refugee protection.

Finally, the meeting called for improved NGO monitoring of the Convention and committed those present to look at ways of co-ordinating NGO efforts in this regard on a global level.