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South Asian meeting in Islamabad on refugee issues

January 22, 2004

ISLAMABAD, 22 Jan (UNHCR) - Eminent individuals from South Asian countries will meet in Islamabad on Friday and Saturday for a discussion of refugee and migration issues that will culminate in a call for regional governments to establish a common legal framework for the protection of refugees.

The Eighth Informal Regional Consultation on Refugees and Migratory Movements in South Asia - held by the UN Refugee Agency and the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) composed of prominent figures from the five major South Asian countries - must address some of the most complicated problems of refugee protection anywhere in the world.

In addition to the Afghan refugees hosted by Pakistan, there are Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, Myanmar Muslims in Bangladesh, large numbers of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka and refugees from several countries in India. In addition, there are major issues of regulating migration unrelated to refugees, such as traditional movements between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, no country in South Asia has signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the international agreement that defined how governments should treat refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, while seeing the Convention as the cornerstone of international protection for refugees, notes that a failure to join it does not prevent countries from establishing other laws to protect refugees.

This meeting of the EPG is expected to conclude on Saturday with the issuing of the South Asia Declaration of Refugees, a model for refugee legislation that the group would like to see their respective governments adopt. UNHCR hopes this will spur political debate on improving protection for refugees throughout South Asia.

The EPG meeting is hosted by the Pakistan members, led by Justice (Retd) Nasim Hassan Shah, the former chief justice. Other Pakistani members are Abdul Sattar, the former foreign minister; Dr Muhammad Azam Chaudry of Azam Chaudry Law Associates; Professor Ijaz Hussain, of Quaid-e-Azam University's Department of International Relations; and Professor Syed Sikandar Mehdi, of the University of Karachi's Department of International Relations.

UNHCR participation is led by Hitoshi Mise, deputy director of UNHCR's Bureau for Asia and the Pacific who is based in Geneva. UNHCR delegates from the five South Asian EPG countries are also participating, including the Acting Representative Pakistan, Philip Karani.

Media Contact: Jack Redden: ++92-300-500-1133