DIMA Annual Report 1996-97
Secretary's Review - Humanitarian Program
The Humanitarian Program was set in 1996–97 at 12 000 places, after taking into account the 2 000 places borrowed by the previous Government for the 1995–96 program. The program was delivered on target.
The program is mainly sourced offshore. However, it included provision for 2 000 onshore places which are the demand-driven component of the program. Some 2 251 domestic places were required compared to 1 926 places in 1995–96. This necessarily reduced the number of places available offshore with the impact being absorbed by a reduced emphasis on the Special Assistance Category.
The Government's intention to concentrate resources on the refugee and special humanitarian entrants was demonstrated with the announcement, in the 1997–98 Budget, that an integrated humanitarian settlement strategy, expanding on case coordination, would be developed within the broader framework of the National Integrated Settlement Strategy (NISS). The implications of the strategy form the core of the work program for the Refugee Resettlement Advisory Council, which first met on 29 May.
Australia continued to participate in international forums on refugee and displaced people issues, principally through meetings convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Intergovernmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies in Europe, America and Australia. The importance attached by the Minister to refugee issues was reflected in his attendance at the annual UNHCR Executive Committee (EXCOM) meeting in Geneva in October.
Australia's prominent regional role in international refugee resettlement was also recognised by the visit to Australia of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs Sadako Ogata, in July. Continued close cooperation between the Department and UNHCR led to Australia co-hosting a Regional Conference on Refugees and Displaced Persons in November, involving 23 countries from the Asia-Pacific. The conference aimed to encourage continued regional dialogue on refugee issues in the wake of the Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees, which concluded on 30 June 1996.
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