43. Memorandum submitted by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
UNHCR's mandate responsibility is to provide
international protection to refugees and facilitate solutions
to the problems of refugees. This responsibility includes the
function of supervising, in co-operation with states, the application
of the 1951 Convention and its legal protection regime. Since
1990 and the end of the cold war the nature of refugee movements
has changed. Refugees increasingly flee from civil conflicts.
The movements of asylum-seekers also now include a mix of refugees
and economic migrants. In response to these changes UNHCR has
recently undertaken a global process of consulting states and
civil society on adapting the international protection regime
to meet the challenges of today.
During the December 2001 Ministerial Meeting
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention, states
including the UK, reaffirmed their commitment to implement the
Convention and its 1967 Protocol fully and effectively. They also
agreed that UNHCR should work on complementing and strengthening
the basic Convention framework. This is reflected in the Agenda
for Protection and its "Convention Plus" initiative.
The essence of Convention Plus is the development of special agreements
or arrangements which will promote fairer responsibility and burden-sharing,
make durable solutions more accessible within a shorter time framework
and reduce migratory pressure on asylum systems.
The Committee's terms of reference fall within
the broad context of the Convention Plus initiative. While asylum
issues are of direct domestic concern, they are at the same time
inherently international in character, and are best addressed
in a multilateral framework that is firmly grounded in the 1951
Convention and its legal protection regime. The attached Non-paper
contains UNHCR's proposals regarding new approaches to the management
of asylum applications in the European context. These include
proposals for processing applications deemed to be manifestly
unfounded; strengthening protection capacities in host countries;
return and readmission arrangements; and the Committee's focus
which is improvements to domestic asylum systems.
The Committee has raised a number of questions
concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of the UK asylum system.
UNHCR would like to draw to the Committee's attention the role
that independence of country of origin information and first instance
decision-making can play in underpinning fast and effective systems
which meet the needs of states and those seeking asylum. The credibility
and authority attached to independence can be important elements
bringing quality to first instance decisions thus reducing the
number of cases which go to appeal.
UNHCR supports reforms that would clarify and
enhance the independent character of first instance decision-making.
Independent decision-making arrangements should include the establishment
of a single autonomous entity that would collate country information
to which all stakeholders would commonly subscribe. Our views
are based on UNHCR's global experience of asylum systems that
place a high premium on independence in decision-making. In such
systems, many cases tend to be decided correctly at first instance,
with few being overturned on appeal. This translates into significant
cost savings as well as genuine efficiency.
The details of such reforms will need to be
carefully worked out in further consultations between the relevant
ministries and stakeholders, and UNHCR would ask the Committee
to recommend accordingly. We believe that there is much to draw
on from the UK's own rich traditions of administrative decision-making,
from best practices of states such as Canada, Sweden, and other
EU states, and from the work that has already been done in the
UK.
Improvements in the domestic asylum system will
be of great benefit if they are complemented by an EU-wide approach
that deals effectively with manifestly unfounded applications
from groups of asylum seekers where there is no real likelihood
of persecution. It could furthermore be complemented by readmission
arrangements that lead to effective protection in regions of origin.
| 
