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- Uppdaterad 19 Sep 2013
02. Part one: Background on AI´s Refugee work Underlag till styrelsemöte 1-2 maj 1997
PART ONE: BACKGROUND ON AI'S REFUGEE WORK
1.1
AMESTY INTERNATIONAL'S REFUGEE MANDATE
Amnesty lnternaUonal's work for refugees is an essential component of its work for the protection of human rights. Al may, in furtherance of its objects, oppose the sending of persons from one country to another where they can reasonably be expected to become prisoners of conscience, be subjected to torture, "disappearance", politically motivated extrajudicial execution or may face the imposition or execution of the judicial death penalty. Al's concern for refugees and asylum-seekers derives from its primary human rights concerns in the countries to which asylum-seekers might be returned against their will. Refugee and asylum concerns are not included in Article i of the Statute ('Object and Mandate'), but come under Article 2 ('Method s'), one of which, set out in Article 2j), is to oppose any person being returned to a country where he or she can reasonably be expected to face specific human rights violations within Al's mandate. Al's work on refugees can therefore be characterized as part of Al's preventive work.
In its refugee work Amnesty International opposes the forcible return of any person to a country where he or she risks human rights violations under its mandate. It therefore seeks to ensure that states provide people with effective and durable protection from being sent against their will to a country where they risk such violations, or to any third country where they would not be afforded effective and durable protectidn against such return. In order to ensure that people who would risk serious human rights violations if returned to a particular country are identified as such and afforded protection, Amnesty lnternational 'seeks to ensure that all asylum-seekers have access to a fair and satisfactory asylum procedure. (A
note on the development of Al's refugee work is contained The Appendix 1.)
1.2 DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY BETWEEN SECTIONS AND THE IS
As the situation of asylum-seekers and refugees and the legal system governing the status determination process differ from country to country, it was agreed in the early stages of AI's refugee work that most of the initiative for refugee work should rest with individual sections, each making its own decisions about how best to work on individual cases and on general issues of asylum and refugee policy in its country. Although Al's refugee work is not a form of "own country work", for example in the same way that work against the death penalty is', but is more comparable with Al's work on MSP (Military, Security and Police) transfers, with its rationale being the risk of human rights violations in the asylum-seeker's country of origin, it may. be seen by others outside of Al as an "own country" issue. The 1985 refugee guidelines provide for sections who are experienced in refugee work to act with a large degree of independence from the IS, specifically in deciding whether individual asylum-seekers are of concern to Al and what action should be taken on their behalf.' By common consent it is considered that AI's expertise on asylum issues in any particular country lies with the Al section in that country, rather than the IS research team covering the country. Moreover, the section is well placed to evaluate the claims of individual refugees whom they often can meet and interview. Therefore, sections which work on behalf of individual cases are themselves responsible for any decision related to this work.
The fact that in refugee work sections act with a large degree of independence means that there is a need for close consultation between sections and the IS. The relation between sections and the IS in this area ist not governed by hierarchy, but coordination. The division
of responsibility has not always been clear and there appears to have been a shift towards more section responsibility over the years. although the 1985 refugee guidelines spelled out that sections should inform the IS of all individual asylum-seekers whose cases they have supported and should consult the IS before making any public statement on a particular case, the practice of most sections - at least in recent years - has been different. On general policy issues the rules state that sections should consult the IS in advance of issuing any public statement, in particular on critical policy questions such as "restrictive measures" and detention, which may have repercussions well beyond the section concerned or even beyond refugee work.
Refugee coordinators in sections often expressed a need to exchange information views and experiences among themselves, as they felt that this cannot sufficiently be done within their sections. The annual meeting of (European) refugee coordinators was seen as one way of doing so.
The 1997 refugee campaign offers an opportunity to involve more sections and structures outside of Western Europe and North America in aspects of our refugee work. In preparation for the campaign training of sections and structures new to refugee work is
being increased.
1.3 THE ACTORS IN REFUGEE WORK - AT THE IS AND AT SECTION LEVEL
1.3.1 International Secretariat
While a significant portion of al's refugee work, and in particular work on individual cases, is currently undertaken by al sections, the IS has taken on over the years increased
responsibility for research on situations of mass influx and certain individual cases. Individual casework only falls under the responsibility of the IS if there is no section in the country in question, of if the section is not sufficiently developed to take on such work. With the gradual development of al's refugee work in recent years and the increasing tendency 9f governments prevent the access of asylum-seekers at their borders (including airports) and return them to another state, this as pect becomes more and more important. Often refugees find themselves trapped in countries, where there may either be no al-presence at all or a structure not developed enough to deal with these problems on the ground. This and other factors in refugee work have led to the emergence of tasks related to our refugee work playing a prominent role for a number of IS staff in different programs.
1.3.1.1 Research teams
While most country research teams are exposed to refugee-related questions in one way or another over time, the amount and intensity varies enormously from region to region. While some research teams only occasionally come across refugee-related issues, others deal with them on an almost daily basis. The understanding of refugee issues and the specific information needs in the refugee field varies accordingly: Some researchers only have a basic knowledge of al's refugee mandate and working methods, while others have over the years developed an excellent understanding of refugee issues and the needs of refugee coordinators and good working relationships with them. While it is difficult to give an overall estimate of the time individual research teams spend on refugee-related matters, it appears that, because of the urgency and complexity of some of these matters, this work offers a potential for conflict with the research teams' plans and priorities.
Research teams deal with refugee matters on various levels:
Particular challenges are being posed by the trend of which there is clear evidence, that there are an increasing number of crisis countries and an increasing number of protracted, long-term situations where refugees are either produced or are hosted.
1.3.1.2 Refugee team
The Refugee and Relief Team, one of several teams in the Research and Mandate Program (RMP), serves as the focal point for refugee work in the International Secretariat. It consists of the Refugee Program Coordinator an assistant refugee coordinator and a part-time team assistant. Before the reorganization of the IS in 1994/1995 the Refugee Unit, as it was then called, was at times attached to the Legal Office and at times directly working with the Head of Research Office (HORO).
Given the overall increase in the global refugee population the refugee team is involved with ~ large volume of cases and al concerns and interventions. It has assumed the responsibility for tracking the legal condition of refugees in situations of mass influx. It also often takes the lead on identifying issues and cases of concern to al and raises these with the research teams. The team also assists and advises research teams in their work. It undertakes or takes part in missions to examine the situation of refugees and asylum-seekers in certain countries or to debrief refugees. It is involved in approving reports on countries where human rights violations against refugees are salient and occasionally produces reports on country situations (such as the March 1993 document on inadequate protection for refugees and asylum-seekers in Japan).
An important task of the team is to coordinate approaches and initiatives in refugee work within the IS and with sections. The refugee team sends regular mailings to refugee coordinators and produces a circular (about four times a year) which contains updated information on countries of origin and specific groups of asylum-seekers for use by refugee coordinators, as well as news about other developments. The team also responds to queries which are not country-related.
The refugee team has the principal responsibility for the development of and advice on al's -refugee policy. It represents al at international meetings and fora, such as the annual meeting of the Executive Committee of UNHCR and the biannual meeting of ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles). It organizes lobby actions and produces' submissions and documents on al's refugee policy (such as the April 1993 paper on fundamental standards for the protection of refugees).
The refugee team assists smaller sections in starting and strengthening their refugee work; it is involved in training and the development of training materials. The team presently plays a leading role in developing the framework and producing the action circulars and external documents for al's refugee campaign in 1997.
1.3.1.3 Information Resources Program and Information Technology Program Among many other tasks the Information Resources
Program monitors international press and electronic news services. It also deals with both al and non-al information and aims to provide a high quality and comprehensive information service.
The Information Technology Program is, among numerous other things, responsible for the development of a worldwide al communications system, including databases. Presently no specific refugee-related information is documented or distributed, but both programs could in the future be involved in setting up a system to better service the information needs of section refugee coordinators.
1.3.2 Sections
Sections act with considerable autonomy in their refugee work, both on individual cases and in addressing their own governments on general issues of asylum policy in their country. Because most of al's refugee work is devolved to the sections, it varies enormously as to the amount of work undertaken, the role refugee work plays in the overall work of the section, the way it is organized in the section and the structures put in place.
Refugee work, particularly individual case work, is very demanding of resources. Some larger sections have sufficient resources to decide what priority they wish to give to refugee concerns and allocate the necessary resources to do the work at the level they consider appropriate. but in many sections the priority of refugee concerns is determined by the resources available to do the work. In practical terms, refugee work is done in a structured and systematic way only by a limited number of well-established larger sections, the majority of them in Western Europe and North America. There are exceptions to this general rule, though: Hong Kong has been a case in point.
Most sections involved in refugee work in some way or another have appointed a refugee coordinator. This may be a (full-time or part-time) member of staff, a volunteer, a board member or another person, whose primary responsibility is not refugee work (chairperson or director of section, campaign coordinator). The refugee coordinator may be assisted by other staff, office volunteers or an expert committee. In a number of sections refugee work is fairly centralized and mainly undertaken by the central structure or from the office of the section. Some sections in addition undertake refugee work from branch or regional offices and a number of them try to involve their country coordinators or coordination groups. Others engaged to some extent may include those responsible for the section's documentation system. Only a few sections involve their local groups in certain aspects of refugee work, such as lobbying or publicity, but at least one section has a full-fledged membership structure to continuously undertake refugee work. (More detailed "case studies" of refugee work undertaken by sections are attached as Appendix 2.)
1.3.3 Individual case work and assessments; cooperation between sections and the IS
The basis for al's refugee concerns is the risk of human rights violations in countries to which asylum-seekers might be returned against their will. Some sections focus their refugee work primarily on individual case work; others do relatively little individual case work, and in response to recently introduced restrictions on refugees and asylum-seekers are increasingly focusing on general issues of refugee and asylum policy.
Most sections underline the importance of al's individual case work, pointing out that al is in a unique position to assess the human rights element in certain individual cases. The extent to which sections do individual case work, and at what stage in the asylum procedure they may support a case, seems to depend to a large extent on whether other agencies in the section's country do individual case work. For practical reasons it is important for al to be able to refer cases which fall outside its mandate or cases which for some reason it cannot support to other organizations in the country.
The way sections do case work differs from one section to another. For example, some sections take up individual cases only at the point when refoulement becomes imminent; others do so at an earlier stage in the procedure. Most sections support a case only after they have interviewed the asylum-seeker and can make some assessment of his or her personal credibility. Some sections write letters based on al's general information about the human rights situation in the asylum-seeker's country of origin, making clear that they have no? personally interviewed the individual concerned and cannot assess his or her credibility. At least one section regularly provides statements to courts, at the court's request, providing detailed country information in relation to cases of asylum seekers, whom they have not interviewed.
Some sections only rarely consult the IS before deciding whether or not to support a case; others do so more often.
Several sections have said the IS does not provide information as detailed as they want or in a form appropriate to use in supporting refugee cases, and, for this reason, they must consult the IS on a case-by-case basis, which is time consuming for both the section and the IS. It can be difficult for the IS to supply such information as fast as the section wants it, particularly in cases where refoulement is imminent. Sections have found problems with the nature of the IS's responses to their requests for information relating to individual cases, and with the variation in level and type of response from one research team to another. IS research teams, for their part, have found it difficult to respond on the basis of the information which some sections provide in their inquiries. The IS at some point recommended the use of a checklist of information which sections should provide to the IS when making inquiries on individual cases. Some sections felt the IS should aim to make its case assessments in a standard form also, and, in particular, should provide case assessments in a form that could be quoted verbatim, as most statements the IS provides about a case must be paraphrased or adapted by the section for use outside of al. Often the IS is asked to check and verify specific case information provided by asylum-seekers, which it may find difficult or impossible to do. Sections have often asked that the IS produce more "refugee-related" material and some have specifically indicated that they would like the IS to provide more detailed information defining different groups of asylum-seekers who are likely to be of al concern. Sections find it very helpful when the IS issues circulars to refugee coordinators providing background information about asylum-seekers from a given country, ethnic or religious group or with a certain political affiliation, as this could substantially reduce the number of inquiries on individual cases.