The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
Conscious
of the fact that foreign military, non-military and/or ethnic conflicts have
resulted in massive flows of refugees and the displacement of persons on the
basis of ethnic criteria in many parts of the world,
Considering
that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination proclaim that all human beings are born
free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the
rights and freedoms set out therein, without distinction of any kind, in particular
as to race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin,
Recalling the 1951 Convention and the
1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees as the main source of the international
system for the protection of refugees in general,
1.Draws
the attention of States parties to article
5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination as well as Committee's General Recommendation XX (48) on article
5, and reiterates that the Convention obliges States parties to prohibit and
eliminate racial discrimination in the enjoyment of civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights and freedoms;
2.Emphasizes
in this respect that:
(a)All such refugees and displaced persons have
the right freely to return to their homes of origin under conditions of safety;
(b)States parties are obliged to ensure that the
return of such refugees and displaced persons is voluntary and to observe the
principle of non-refoulement and non-expulsion of refugees;
(c)All such refugees and displaced persons have,
after their return to their homes of origin, the right to have restored to them
property of which they were deprived in the course of the conflict and to be
compensated appropriately for any such property that cannot be restored to them.
Any commitments or statements relating to such property made under duress are
null and void;
(d)All such refugees and displaced persons have,
after their return to their homes of origin, the right to participate fully
and equally in public affairs at all levels and to have equal access to public
services and to receive rehabilitation assistance.
