Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless Persons: Draft Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Israel: Proposal Concerning the Preamble

A/CONF.2/AC.1/R.5

The Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and Stateless persons convened in Geneva on 2 July 1951 under resolution 429 (V) of the General Assembly

(1) Considering that the Charter of the United Nations reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights and that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed on 10 December 1948;

(2) Considering that the exercise of the right of asylum may place unduly heavy burdens on some countries, and that a satisfactory solution of a problem of which the United Nations has recognized the international scope and nature cannot therefore be achieved without international co-operation;

(3) Considering that the United Nations has, on various occasions, manifested its profound concern for refugees and endeavoured to assure refugees the widest possible exercise of these fundamental rights and freedoms;

(4) Desiring to revise and consolidate previous international agreements relating to the protection of refugees and to extend the scope of and the protection accorded by such instruments by means of a new agreement;

(5) Noting that the High Commissioner for Refugees is charged with the task of supervising international conventions providing for the protection of refugees, and recognizing that the effective co-ordination of measures taken to deal with this problem will depend upon the co/operation of State with the High Commissioner;

Have agreed as follows:-