Introduction

The principle of non-discrimination has been correctly described as fundamental to the concept of human rights. It is specifically affirmed, for example, in the Preamble to the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979. The principle of equality and the prohibition of discrimination has been reaffirmed and strengthened in a multitude of international human rights treaties. Observance, however, has been far from exemplary and this is no less true in the case of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951. In particular, it has not always been recognized that women and the girl-child enjoy the equal protection of the 1951 Convention.

From at least 1985, however, a concerted effort has been made by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to correct this inequity. The Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme has similarly called upon States to recognize that refugee women who are victims of violence and persecution are in need of protection under the 1951 Convention. Thus, in October 1995, the Executive Committee: