World Refugee Year

1285 (XIII)

XIII. RESOLUTION ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE

1285. World Refugee Year

The General Assembly,

Having considered the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,¹ together with the resolution adopted by the Executive Committee of the United Nations Refugee Fund at its ninth (special) session on 26 September 1958,²

Convinced of the need to make a further world-wide effort to help resolve the world refugee problem,

Having considered the proposal for a World Refugee Year to begin in June 1959,

Noting that this proposal has two aims, namely:

(a) To focus interest on the refugee problem and to encourage additional financial contributions from Governments, voluntary agencies and the general public for its solution,

(b) To encourage additional opportunities for permanent refugee solutions, through voluntary repatriation, resettlement or integration, on a purely humanitarian basis and in accordance with the freely expressed wishes of the refugees themselves,

1. Urges States Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies to co-operate, in accordance with the national wishes and needs of each country and from a humanitarian point of view, in promoting a World Refugee Year as a practical means of securing increased assistance for refugees throughout the world;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to take such steps as he may think fit to assist in the promotion of a World Refugee Year in accordance with the present resolution.

782nd plenary meeting,
5 December 1958.

1 Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirteenth Session, Supplement No. 11 (A/3828/Rev.1) and Supplement No. 11A (A/3828/Rev.1/Add.1).

2 Ibid., Supplement No. 11A (A/3828/Rev.1/Add.1), appendix II