Travel Documents for Refugees

No. 49 (XXXVIII) - 1987

The Executive Committee,

Reaffirming the importance of the issue of travel documents to refugees for temporary travel outside their country of residence and for resettlement in other countries;

Recalling its Conclusion No. 13 (XXIX) on Travel Documents for Refugees;

Recalling further Article 28 of the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the Schedule and Annex thereto;

(a) Welcomed the Note of the High Commissioner on follow-up to the earlier Conclusion of the Executive Committee on Travel Documents for Refugees (EC/SCP/48);

(b) Expressed satisfaction that the great majority of States parties to the 1951 U. N. Convention and/or the 1967 Protocol follow or sometimes exceed the above-mentioned provisions of the 1951 U. N. Convention and Conclusion No. 13 (XXIX) concerning the issue of travel documents to refugees;

(c) Noted, however, that in some countries problems concerning Convention Travel Documents continue to exist as regards arrangements for their issue, their geographical and temporal validity, the return clause, their extension or renewal, the transfer of responsibility for their issue and the obtaining of visas;

(d) Urged all States parties to the 1951 U. N. Convention and/or the 1967 Protocol which have not yet done so to take appropriate legislative or administrative measures to implement effectively the provisions of these instruments concerning the issue of Convention Travel Documents (Article 28, Schedule, Annex), including the giving of clear instructions to national authorities competent to issue, renew and extend travel documents and grant visas to holders of Convention Travel Documents;

(e) Urged all States not parties to the 1951 U. N. Convention and/or the 1967 Protocol which have not yet done so to take appropriate legislative or administrative measures to ensure that refugees are issued with appropriate travel documents under conditions as similar as possible to those attaching to the Convention Travel Documents;

(f) Expressed appreciation for the various types of assistance the High Commissioner provides Governments with respect to the issue of travel documents for refugees and requested him to continue his efforts in this regard, in particular by examining the possibility of modernizing the format of Convention Travel Documents.