Деятельность УВКБ ООН и права человека

Abstract

The article "UNHCR Activities and Human Rights" provides brief information about the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the basic international instruments in the field of the rights of refugees, namely, the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the Protocol to the Convention of 1967. The Convention contains the definition of refugee and stipulates basic rights of refugees, including the fundamental right to be protected against deportation to the country of persecution. The 1967 Protocol has expanded the scope of the Convention to who became refugees after January 1, 1951 and removed geographical limitations from the refugee definition. The obvious connection between UNHCR activities and human rights can be confirmed by the analysis of the refugee definition contained in the 1951 Convention. The "prosecution" means "non-observance of the basic human rights in the country of origin of a refugee. The recognition of the refugee status is equal to the acknowledgement of the serious threat to human rights in the state of origin. The UNHCR activities on protection of the refugees are a component of efforts of international community directed to the provision of respect of human rights. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees protects the rights of a special group of people. Moreover, UNHCR, as the division of the United Nations is guided by its Charter that declares promotion of respect to human rights to be an objective of the Organisation. The basis of international refuge protection is the protection against compulsory return to the country where the person is threatened by persecution. The most vivid example of the connection between the work of UNHCR and prevention of grave infringements of human rights is the activities aimed at ensuring non-refoulement (protection against such return). There are three durable solutions to the refugee problem: voluntary repatriation, local integration and resettlement to a third country. And each of them is connected to the necessity of an assessment of the human rights situation in the respective countries. While implementing repatriation UNHCR not only ensures that the decision to return is voluntary, but also monitors the observation of the returnees' rights, as well as works on restoration of a destroyed infrastructure. These activities allow to prevent new forcible displacement and also enable to enjoy social, economic and cultural rights without excessive burden to the limited resources of the post-conflict countries. This support does not substitute the activities of international agencies on development, but rather renders the most basic assistance in the situation when the conditions in the country do not yet allow to begin or to renew the work of these organisations. One may put the question of a balance between the humanitarian work of UNHCR on protection of refugees, and the activities on protection of human rights, which is frequently considered as politically affiliated. The answer to the given question is that, at first, the international standards and obligations in the field of human rights are equal for all countries irrespective of ideology of the respective governments. At second, the appropriate obligations are specially taken by the states through the respective international instruments, and the request to observe human rights is not a political one and simply refers to the need to carry out the accepted obligations. The impartial and consecutive application of norms in the field of human rights irrespective of political convictions of the refugee and ideological position of this or that country is the means to emphasise neutral and humanitarian character of the UNHCR activities. The international human rights law can render essential assistance to work of UNHCR on protection of refugees. The basic instruments in the field of human rights, being ratified by the majority of states, have more universal character, than the provisions of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Besides, the human rights law has wider sphere of application, and when the international refugee law is applied at the level of recommendations (for instance, conclusions of the UNHCR Executive Committee), the former is based on the international instruments, universal or regional. The control mechanisms established in some international human rights instruments have special importance for UNHCR activities on protection of refugees. These bodies not only interpret the norms of the appropriate instruments, but also consider claims on an infringement of states' obligations, including individual complaints. In some cases the submission of such complaints is the effective mechanism of protection of the refugees. For example, the European Commission on Human Rights accepts the complaints on infringement of Article 3 of the European Convention 1950 on Human Rights and basic freedoms (the prohibition to subject a person to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment), when states make a decision to deport a foreigner to the country where he or she is at risk to undergo the actions forbiddenby the given Article. If such complaint is accepted for consideration the implementation of the deportation procedure is usually suspended. UNHCR also cooperates with the human rights bodies of the United Nations, for instance, the Commission on Human Rights, established by the Economic and Social Council, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The activities of Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees are a component of the work of the United Nations in the field of human rights. The efforts of UNHCR on international protection and search of durable solutions to the problem of refugees are aimed at the achievement of one of the objectives of the United Nations — promoting and encouraging respect for human rights.