Assistance to refugees, returnees and displaced persons in Africa
A/RES/69/154
High Commissioner to continue efforts, in consultation with States and other
relevant actors, to ensure the civilian and humanitarian character of camps;
17. Condemns all acts that pose a threat to the personal security and wellbeing of refugees and asylum seekers, such as refoulement, unlawful expulsion and
physical attacks, calls upon States of refuge, in cooperation with international
organizations, where appropriate, to take all measures necessary to ensure respect
for the principles of refugee protection, including the humane treatment of asylum
seekers, notes with interest that the High Commissioner has continued to take steps
to encourage the development of measures to better ensure the civilian and
humanitarian character of asylum, and encourages the High Commissioner to
continue those efforts, in consultation with States and other relevant actors;
18. Deplores the continuing violence and insecurity which constitute an
ongoing threat to the safety and security of staff members of the Office of the High
Commissioner and other humanitarian organizations and an obstacle to the effective
fulfilment of the mandate of the Office and the ability of its implementing partners
and other humanitarian personnel to discharge their respective humanitarian
functions, urges States, parties to conflict and all other relevant actors to take all
measures necessary to protect activities related to humanitarian assistance, prevent
attacks on and kidnapping of national and international humanitarian workers and
ensure the safety and security of the personnel and property of the Office and that of
all humanitarian organizations discharging functions mandated by the Office, and
calls upon States to investigate fully any crime committed against humanitarian
personnel and bring to justice the persons responsible for such crimes;
19. Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner, the African Union,
subregional organizations and all African States, in conjunction with agencies of the
United Nations system, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and
the international community, to strengthen and revitalize existing partnerships and
forge new ones in support of the protection system for refugees, asylum seekers and
internally displaced persons, and encourages African States that have not yet done
so to consider ratifying and enforcing the Convention on the Safety of United
Nations and Associated Personnel;10
20. Calls upon the Office of the High Commissioner, the international
community and other entities concerned to continue and, where appropriate, to
intensify their support to African Governments through appropriate capacitybuilding activities, including training of relevant officers, disseminating information
about refugee instruments and principles, providing financial, technical and
advisory services to accelerate the enactment or amendment and implementation of
legislation relating to refugees, strengthening emergency response and enhancing
capacities for the coordination of humanitarian activities, in particular those
Governments that have received large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers;
21. Reaffirms the right of return and the principle of voluntary repatriation,
appeals to countries of origin and countries of asylum to create conditions that are
conducive to voluntary repatriation, and recognizes that, while voluntary
repatriation remains the pre-eminent solution, local integration and third-country
resettlement, where appropriate and feasible, are also viable options for dealing with
the situation of African refugees who, owing to prevailing circumstances in their
respective countries of origin, are unable to return home;
_______________
10
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2051, No. 35457.
5/7