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Rescue of Asylum-Seekers in Distress at Sea

Executive Committee Meetings

Rescue of Asylum-Seekers in Distress at Sea
No. 31 (XXXIV) - 1983

20 October 1983
Executive Committee 34th session. Contained in United Nations General Assembly Document No. 12A (A/38/12/Add.1). Conclusion endorsed by the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme upon the recommendation of the Sub-Committee of the Whole on International Protection of Refugees.
Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme

The Executive Committee,

(a) Noted with concern that, according to available statistics as contained in document (EC/SCP/30), significantly fewer numbers of asylum-seekers in distress at sea are being rescued;

(b) Welcomed the initiatives undertaken by UNHCR to meet this grave problem by promoting measures to facilitate the rescue of asylum seekers in distress at sea and expressed the hope that those initiatives would receive the widest possible support of governments;

(c) Recommended that States seriously consider supporting the efforts of UNHCR to promote the Rescue at Sea Resettlement Offers (RASRO) scheme, as described in document (EC/SCP/30), and providing the necessary quotas and other undertakings to enable UNHCR to initiate the scheme on a trial basis;

(d) Welcomed the support given by States to the DISERO scheme;

(e) Commended the initiatives undertaken by UNHCR in co-operation with the International Maritime Organization aimed at identifying joint action for facilitating the rescue of asylum-seekers in distress at sea.