Aid to Hungarian refugees

Report | Doc. 593 | 19 December 1956

Committee

Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population

Rapporteur :

Mr Etienne de la VALLEE POUSSIN, Belgium

Thesaurus

A Draft Recommendation presented by the Committee on Population and Refugees

The Assembly,

Concerned to note that the number of Hungarian refugees is continuously growing;

Imbued with a sense of community which should impel Member States of the Council of Europe to come to the aid of these refugees and assist Austria in its efforts to help them;

Being of the opinion that the most efficient means to assist Austria consists :

1 in affording the largest number of Hungarian refugees the possibility of finding either temporary or permanent asylum outside Austria;

2 in providing facilities for rehabilitation and housing of those refugees remaining in Austria;

Noting with satisfaction t h a t the Committee of Ministers has allocated to t h e Austrian Government the sum of 100 million French francs out of t h e budget of t he Council of Europe;

Noting with satisfaction the spontaneous efforts on the part of a great number of people as well as the close co-operation which has been established among all national and international organisations which contribute to the solution of the problem of Hungarian refugees;

Recalling Recommendation 106, adopted unanimously by the Standing Committee on November 19th 1956,

Recommends the Committee of Ministers :

1 to invite all Governments of Member States which are also Members of the United Nations to approach the General Assembly of t h a t Organisation in a common European spirit with a request t h a t the United Nations make a special effort in order to collect the largest possible amount of funds for Hungarian refugees. These funds should be placed at the disposal of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with a view to meeting the problem arising, especially for Austria, from the admittance of refugees;

2 to invite all t h e Governments of Member States to grant I. C. E. M. the means required to carry out the t a sk it has undertaken, at the request of the Austrian Government, and with the approval of its Member States, to ensure transportation of Hungarian refugees within Europe and overseas;

3 to invite Member States with uncultivated or abandoned land to make such land available to Hungarian refugees and facilitate their resettlement;

4 to consider the possibility of granting the Governments of t h e above countries credits, in the form of repayable loans, for the restoration of uncultivated or abandoned land and of premises for the housing of refugees

B Explanatory Note by M, de la VALLEE POUSSIN

1

The Committee on Population and Refugees, noting t h a t the influx of Hungarian refugees into Austria had continued to increase since its emergency meeting on 12th and 13th November 1956 at the Austrian Parliament in Vienna, met again in Paris on 12th and 13th December 1956, with M. Pernot in the Chair.

Two sittings were held during which the Special Representative, M. Schneiter, and the observers of t h e Office of t h e United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and of I. C. E. M. were heard.

The seriousness of the situation in Austria calls for new measures, in addition to those urged upon the Committee of Ministers in Recommendation 106, which was adopted unanimously by the Standing Committee on 19th November 1956 in Paris.

These new measures would represent a step forward in the activities of the Council of Europe on behalf of the Hungarian refugees

The Committee has therefore adopted unanimously the draft Recommendation above, which it submits to the Assembly with a view to adoption at the Session of January 1957.