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COMMISSION OFTHEEUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(81 )301 final
Brussels .17June 1981
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Communication from the Commission tothe Council onassistance
to .refugees and displaced persons
COM (8l)301 final

VIII/450/81-EN
Theproblem ofrefugees anddisplaced persons isanoldone ,butm ;
recent years -mainly asaresult ofpolitical events inSouth East
Asia ,Afghanistan andtheHorn ofAfrica -ithasreached unparalleled "•
proportions .Atthestart ofthelast decade ,thenumber ofrefugees
anddisplaced persons amounted ,worldwide ,tohundreds ofthousands ;
now ,in1981 ,they arenumbered inmillions .Therecent Geneva conference
(ICARA )drew attention tothepresence of5million such people in
Africa alone ,andthere arereported tobeasmany again inother
parts oftheworld .
r « . •
Thehuge increase innumbers that hasoccurred inthelast twoorthree
years isreflected inthevolume ofassistance provided bydonors .The
Community ,forexample ,gave 40million dollars' worth ofaidtorefugees
anddisplaced persons in1975 ;four years later this figure hadrisen
to140million dollars ,andattheGeneva conference ,theCommunity and
itsMember States announced contributions totalling some 170million
dollars for1981 forAfrica only .
Theproblem hasnotonly grown insize ,itsreal character has also
I
changed inthepast fewyears .Until quite recently ,when voluntary
repatriation wasnotpossible ,itwasgenerally felt that installation
Ν
inindustrialized countries was theanswer .For thevast majority of
today 'srefugees ,whether Kampuchean ,Afghan orAfrican ,itisrealised
that this solution isnotfeasible ;their ,rural background andlack
offormal education and technical skills donot make them fit for such
aradical change ofenvironment .They canonly either return totheir
country oforigin -whenever voluntary repatriation isfeasible -or
settle inneighbouring host countries (most ofwhich areeconomically
fragile ),orremain permanently incamps -this last possibility being
unacceptable from ahumanitarian point ofview and ,moreover ,politically
.dangerous .

-2-VII1/450/81-EN
The size andnature oftherefugee problem therefore mean ,not only
that massive foreign aid isandwill beneeded each time anew flow
ofdisplaced persons occurs ,but also that alarge share ofassist­
ance should bedevoted tolong-term solutions ,i.e. helping econom­
ically weak host countries tosettle their refugee anddisplaced
populations elsewhere than incamps (asisbeing done onalimited
scale intheSudan ),orhelping countries oforigin tosettle their
returnees (asinZimbabwe ).
2.Over thepast year orso,thegrowth oftherefugee phenomenon has
prompted closer analysis ofit.Atthepolitical level ,there have
been several calls forpreventive action :inMay last year the
European Council made "avigorous appeal totheGovernments respons­
ible for ittoremove thecauses ofthis widespread human tragedy ";
later thesame year ,inthe U.N. General Assembly ,theFederal
Republic ofGermany called forcloser political cooperation to
eliminate theproblem atitsroots ;andmore recently ,inGeneva ,
delegations from Africa ,donor countries and from theCommission
echoed that same sentiment .
Attheadministrative level ,there isagrowing realisation that
refugee situations pass -orshould pass -through different stages
requiring different forms ofassistance .IntheCommission 'sanalysis
-shared byother delegations attheGeneva conference -three phases
arerecognizable :afirst ,emergency phase immediately after anin­
flux ofrefugees ,when basic supplies (drugs ,food ,shelter ,clothing ,
etc.)areneeded atonce ;asecond ,subsistence phase pending a
durable solution ,when acertain degree ofeducation ,training and
local food production areneeded aswell asshelter ,medical supplies
anddomestic utensils ;and athird ,settlement phase when assistance
for thedevelopment ofboth physical andsocial infrastructure in
thehost country (orcountry oforigin ,inthecase ofvoluntary
repatriation isrequired ,ofbenefit tothelocal aswell asto
therefugee population .

-3-VII1/450/81-EN
4
Institutionally andfinancially ,thefirst twophases pos© less <
problems than thethird .UNHCR hasclear responsibility foremergency
andsubsistence 'assistance torefugees ,andother agencies (WFP ,
UNICEF ,ICRC andanumber ofNGOs )have demonstrated their ability
toimplement emergency andsubsistence aidprogrammes ,while all
major donors (including theCommunity )cancover incash orkind
theneeds ofrefugees anddisplaced persons atthese twostages . .
Forthethird phase however -settlement through "integration "upon
return orinthehost country -there isnooneimplementing agency
with clear responsibility ,nor anyspecial financial support from
donors .The first point waswidely recognized attheGeneva Conference ,
where many delegations stressed theneed forclarification ofthe
role ofthedifferent humanitarian anddevelopment agencies atthe
settlement stage .TheConference indicated that this question would
bediscussed indetail within theUnited Nations family over the
coming months ,andconcluded that UNHCR andother UNandvoluntary
"N "
agencies should liaise closely with each other ,andco-ordinate their
policies andprogrammes ,sothat "medium andlong term assistance
torefugees wasnotconceived onanadhocbasis ,nor assumed separat --
elyfrom on-going development programmes ."
,Thesecond point -inadequate funding fordevelopment permitting
settlement -was inasense illustrated bythefinancial outcome of
theConference .Priority requirements tobemetin1981-82 (emergency
andsubsistence programmes )were estimated tocost 450million dollars .
t
while amuch larger amount wasestimated tobenecessary tocover longer
term settlement programmes .TheConference infact raised 560million
dollars ,sothat atpresent only 110million dollars would beavail­
able forrefugee integration ,assuming which ismost unlikely -
that these funds will notbetied tonewneeds foremergency and
subsistence aid .

-4-VIII /450/81-EN
3.Many African delegations totheConference emphasized thevery great
importance they attach ,inview oftheir owninadequate resources ,
toforeign assistance forrefugee integration .This isanarea where
theCommunity assuch isnot equipped .
Infood aidandemergency aid (Article 137ofLome II,Article 950
oftheBudget ),theCommunity has themeans tooffer large-scale
assistance torefugees anddisplaced persons during theemergency
andsubsistence phases .Itcanonly help inavery modest wayduring
thethird phase ,chiefly byco-financing settlement projects
implemented bynon-governmental organisations (Article 945ofthe
Budget ).
The Geneva Conference made itclear that several African countries
nowsheltering refugee populations have thepolitical will toabsorb
these refugees andhave already made considerable sacrifices tohelp
them .Their owndevelopment programmes have been slowed down asa
result .Itwould bedangerous toexpect them tomake further sacrifices
bydiverting part ofdevelopment aiddestined fortheir ownneedy
populations torefugee settlement projects .Therisk involved would be
that more andmore "developing countries would deny access totheir
territories fornewrefugees ,andpossibly trytoexpel those whohad
already arrived ;pressures bynationals whose lives andfuture
were directly affected bysuch apolicy would gain strength and this
could lead -asalready noted insome areas -topolitically and
socially unacceptable conditions and tensions which could soon get out
ofcontrol .Asfar astheCommunity isconcerned ,itneeds tobestressed
that theresources oftheEuropean Development NFund andofthebudget -
line fornon-associated developing countries areintended forthe
development ofthehost countries themselves andtheir own populations ,
andshould notbeused asameans offinancing durable solutions for
refugees .

5-
TheCommission therefore considers that ,intheabsence ofany
current suitable form ofCommunity financing ,thechoice is
clear :either Member States agree tocreate anewCommunity
aidspecifically for this purpose ,"or ,they agree toprovide
new funds themselves for this third phase oftherefugee
problem ,thetask oftheCommunity being limited tocoordinating ,
inline with theGeneva Conference conclusions ,such bilateral
policies onrefugee integration .The Commission feels the
latter course would bepreferable ,provided thecentral
responsibility forcoordination atCommunity level was clearly
defined . '
Thepresent communication calls for asubstantive discussion ,
byCouncil andParliament ,oftheideas andprinciples put
forward bytheCommission .Inthelight ofthese debates ,the
Commission wiil then make aformal proposal ,possibly before
the summer of1981.