DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS
United Nations High Commissoner for Refugees (UNHCR)
- Comments to the draft guidelines to inspire practises of the member states of the Council of Europe concerning the arrival of asylum-seekers at European airports , Geneva, 20.9.93, 3 p.
The UNHCR's comment on accelerated procedures for asylum seekers at airports or other points of entry. UNHCR recalls, i.a., that
- "applications for refugee status by persons arriving at airports must be determined as applications from other asylum-seekers in an appropriate procedure taking into account both the subjective and objective elements of the claim;
- competent officials "should be required to act in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement and to refer such cases to a higher authority";
- applicants should be given "a personal interview with a fully qualified official...";
- the "quality of the interview may determine the quality of the decision" and that it is therefore "important that in addition to the examination, also the interview is carried out by fully qualified officials of the authority competent to determine refugee status;
- that "in view of the hardship which it involves", detention of asylum seekers at borders "should normally be avoided" and be resorted to "only on the grounds prescribed by law to verfy identity";
- interpreters should be "skilled, experienced in immigartion and asylum matters and should subscribe to a code of ethics";
- asylum-seekers should be allowed to contact UNHCR or an agency entrusted with legal counselling of asylum-seekers at the point of entry and should have "access to legal assistance in all their contacts with the authorities concerning the substance of their claim";
- UNHCR and NGOs should have at all times access to all the premises where asylum-seekers are present at the airport, e.g. transit zones, accommodation centres and detention facilities".
- UNHCR's position regarding draft eveadres and deserters from former Yugoslavia , Geneva, 2.12.93, 2 p.
UNHCR welcomes the EP's resolution on deserters (see article in this issue) reflecting some of UNHCR's views, "particularly the need for granting international protection to draft age males so that they do not have to take part in an internationally condemned war action".
UNHCR calls for "flexibility" with regard to Serbian and Montenegrin draft evaders of Muslim origin from the Sandjak region in southern Serbia and Northern Montenegro as well as other minoritiessuch as the gypsies and ethnic Hungarians from Vojvodina.
Claims by Kosovo Albanians "refusing to serve in the Serbian armed forces on the grounds of conscience should be considered valid and legitimate, unless proven otherwise. UNHCR highly welcomes policies of non return on humanitarian grounds".
All persons fleeing from Bosnia-Herzegovina, including draft age males, should be protected.
Croatian Draft evaders and deserters whose place of origin or residence in Croatia is considered unsafe should receive special examination of their refugee claim. According to certain reports Croatian males from the Dalmatian coast may be subject to pressure to cooperate with HVO (the militia of the Bosnian Croats) in Herzegovina. Draft age males who have fled the Krajinas should also be protected from deportation.
Council of Europe
- Recommendation 1219 on establishing a mechanism for the protection of human rights in European states not members of the Council of Europe , EREC 1219.WP, 1403-27/9/93-19E.
- Recommendation 1218 on establishing an International Court to try serious violations of international humanitarian law , EREC 1218.WP, 1403-27/9/93-18E.
- Opinion No 176 (1993) on the application by Romania for membership of the Council of Europe , EOPO 176.WP 1403-28/9/93-8-E.
Die Menschenrechtssituation in Kroatien (The human rights situation in Croatia), an overview published by the Austrian Chapter of the European Civic Forum, November 1993, 5 p., available in German only at: Europäisches Bürgerforum, Lobnik 16, A-9135 Eisenkappel, Austria, Tel: +43/4238 8705, Fax: +43/4238 87954.
Information on the discrimination and harassment of Serbs by the Croatian authorities; the terror of para-military organisations against Serbs resulting in the expatriation of 251,000 Serbs from those regions in Croatia under control of the Tudjman-government; defamation of and police harassment against moslem refugees; media censorship, purge against critical journalists; harassment of oppositional parties, etc.
The Irish Reporter . This is a quarterly magazine which reports, analyses and discusses social, cultural and political questions, from both Ireland and abroad.
Contributors have included journalists such as Carol Coulter, Michael Farrell, Nell Mc Cafferty, and academics such as Declan Kiberd, Noam Chomsky, Mike Tomlinson, Semus Deane, Edward Said, Bill Rolston.
A subscription to the Irish Reporter costs £12 sterling for individuals, £20 sterling for institutions. Write to: Subscription Department, The Irish Reporter, Box No.3195, Dublin 6, Ireland.En jämförande studie av invandrings- och asylpolitik i tolv länder (a comparative study of immigration and asylum policies in 12 countries), October 1993, 57 p., in Swedish, report presented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (Vienna) on request of the parliamentary committee on immigration and asylum of the Swedish parliament (Riksdag).
Erst animieren, dann denunzieren - Verfassungsscgutz in Sachsen , by Michael Arnold, published by Bündnis 90/The Greens in the parliament of the Land of Saxony (Germany), October 1993, 64 p. + annex, in German. An interesting report on East Germans' experience with a "new", western-style secret service, after the downfall of the East German STASI.
Available at: Fraktion Bündnis 90/Grüne im Sächsischen Landtag, Holländische Strasse 2, D-01067 Dresden, Tel: +49/351 4855305, Fax: +49/351 4855307.