To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees hosted a meeting of State parties to the convention and its related 1967 Protocol in Geneva on 12 and 13 December 2001.
The Government was represented at the meeting by the Minister of State at my Department, Deputy Mary Wallace. Other States were represented at the level of Minister, Minister of State or ambassador-permanent representative.
This meeting was also part of the global consultations process on international protection which was launched by the UNHCR in late 2000 to consider the position of the 1951 Geneva Convention and international refugee protection generally at the beginning of the 21st century.
The global consultations have been organised along three parallel tracks. First, the continued recognition of the importance of the Geneva Convention in the context of international refugee protection. The December meeting was part of the first track process which sought to strengthen the commitment of State parties to the centrality of the convention in international refugee law.
The second track comprises a series of meetings and expert round tables on various aspects of international protection involving participation by academics and other experts in this field.
The third track of consultations is looking at protection policy matters aimed, inter alia, at the development of new approaches and standards for the strengthening of refugee protection. This has included discussions on issues such as the protection of refugees in mass influx situations, protection of refugees in the context of asylum systems having due regard to the asylum-immigration nexus, complimentary forms of protection and the strengthening of protection capacities in host countries.
The December meeting of State parties took the form of statements by heads of delegations. Three round table discussions also took place which looked at the strengthening of the 1951 convention and related 1967 protocol, mass influx situations and upholding refugee protection in the face of contemporary challenges.