Human Rights and Mass Exoduses

Invites again all Governments and intergovernmental, humanitarian and non-governmental organizations concerned to intensify their cooperation and assistance in worldwide efforts to address the serious problems resulting from mass exoduses of refugees and displaced persons and the causes of such exoduses;

Encourages States that have not already done so to consider acceding to the 1951 Convention⁶ and the 1967 Protocol⁷ relating to the Status of Refugees and to other relevant regional refugee instruments, as applicable, and relevant international human rights instruments;

Invites the special rapporteurs, special representatives and working groups of the Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, acting within their mandates, to continue seeking information, where appropriate, on problems resulting in mass exoduses of populations or impeding their voluntary return home and, where appropriate, to include such information, together with recommendations thereon, in their reports and to bring such information to the attention of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, for appropriate action within his mandate, in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;

Requests all United Nations bodies, including the human rights treaty bodies, the specialized agencies and governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to cooperate fully with all mechanisms of the Commission and, in particular, to provide them with all relevant information in their possession on the human rights situations creating or affecting refugees and displaced persons;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in accordance with his mandate, as set out in General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, and in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to pay attention to situations that cause or threaten to cause mass exoduses and to address effectively such situations through emergency preparedness and response mechanisms, including information-sharing with United Nations early-warning mechanisms, and the provision of technical advice, expertise and cooperation;

Invites the Secretary-General to attach high priority and to make available the necessary resources within the regular budget of the United Nations for the consolidation and strengthening of emergency preparedness and response mechanisms, including early-warning activities in the humanitarian area, for the purpose of ensuring, inter alia, that effective action is taken to identify all multiple and complex factors, including human rights violations, that contribute to mass outflows of persons;

Requests the Secretary-General to prepare and submit to the General Assembly at its fifty-second session a report containing detailed information on the programmatic, institutional, administrative, financial and managerial efforts instituted to enhance the capacity of the United Nations to avert new flows of refugees and to tackle the root causes of such outflows;