C Explanatory memorandum by Mr Türkeş,
rapporteur for opinion
1. The 20th century was marked by an unprecedented scale
of involuntary population transfers during the formation of nations,
especially in central, south-eastern and eastern Europe. This problem
became a key human rights and humanitarian challenge since it concerns
the fate of millions of people. Therefore, the Committee on Migration,
Refugees and Displaced Persons supports the report prepared by the
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and congratulates its
rapporteur, Mr Vareikis, on having brought to the Assembly’s attention
the issue of enforced population transfer as a human rights violation.
2. The rapporteur agrees with Mr Vareikis that any form of population
transfer, in Europe and elsewhere in the world, should be condemned.
He also supports the idea of the promotion of the adoption of an
international, legally binding instrument outlawing all forms of
enforced population transfer.
3. The victims of enforced population transfer have two principal
rights. The first is “the right to return in safety and dignity”
to their former homes or places of residence, as provided in numerous
resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, Security Council
and Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
Note The
second is the right to restitution of property or, if this is no
longer possible, the right to compensation, as laid down in the
United Nations General Assembly Basic Principles and Guidelines
on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations
of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International
Humanitarian Law.
Note
4. In this respect, the committee would like to recall its work
on the right to restitution of property, and in particular Assembly
Resolution 1708 (2010) and
Recommendation
1901 (2010) on solving property issues of refugees and internally
displaced persons, adopted in January 2010. These texts focused
on the issue of the restoration of rights to and physical possession
of property, through restitution or compensation, as essential forms
of redress.
5. In the above resolution, the Assembly stated that “restitution
is the optimal response to the loss of access and rights to housing,
land and property because, alone among forms of redress, it facilitates
choice between three 'durable solutions' to displacement: return
to one’s original home in safety and dignity; local integration at
the site of displacement; or resettlement either at some other site
within the country of origin or outside its borders”.
6. As far as the population exchange in Cyprus is concerned,
Mr Vareikis refers only to the Greek Cypriots and their rights to
property. The committee would like to recall that in Cyprus there
was a voluntary population exchange agreement, which was concluded
in 1975 in Vienna under the auspices of the United Nations, with Turkish
Cypriots moving to the northern part of the island and Greek Cypriots
opting to move to the southern part of the island, the consequences
of which affected both communities.
Note
7. As regards the right of victims of forced population transfers
to return to their former homes or places of residence, the implementation
of this right has been highly problematic. For example, despite
a large number of United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning
the return of Bosnians, Croats and Serbs of the Krajina region to
their homes, under the Dayton Accords only few people have been
able to return. However, the example of some 300 000 Crimean Tatars
who had successfully returned from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to
Ukraine since 1990 proves that the implementation of this right
is possible when there is international solidarity and political
will.
8. The draft resolution highlights the problems of deportations
after the Second World War, in particular in relation to the former
communist countries. The rapporteur finds it difficult to bring
up the Second World War without mentioning deportations both during
and before it.
9. In the light of the above comments, the Committee on Migration,
Refugees and Displaced Persons would like to introduce one amendment
to make reference in the draft resolution to deportations before
and during the Second World War.
