Prof. Dr. Kennedy Gastorn, Secretary-General of Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) visits Ms. Yasuko Shimizu, Chief of Mission of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi
On Tuesday, 13 June 2017 Prof. Dr. Kennedy Gastorn visited Ms. Yasuko Shimizu, in her office in New Delhi. The Secretary-General was accompanied by Mr. Yukihiro Takeya, Deputy Secretary-General of AALCO and Mrs. Anuradha Bakshi, Principal Legal Officer at AALCO. The Chief of Mission of UNHCR was accompanied by Ms. Grace Mungwe, Deputy Chief of Mission and Ms. Kavita Belani, Senior Protection Officer.
The visit was primarily aimed at apprising Ms. Shimizu of the current mandate of AALCO on the topic ‘The Status and Treatment of Refugees’ on which the recently concluded 56th Annual Session of AALCO held in Nairobi, from 1-5 May 2017 had “directed the Secretariat to explore, in the near future, the possibility of Organizing a joint seminar or workshop in collaboration with UNHCR, Member States and other relevant Organizations or institutions” on any topic of mutual interest keeping in mind the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants and the Global Compacts of 2018.
The two seized the opportunity to discuss, among other things, ways and means to augment and further strengthening the existing relationship between the UNHCR and AALCO.
The issue relating to the Status and Treatment of Refugees is one of the topics regularly discussed at the AALCO Annual Sessions, as well as seminars and workshops, since it was placed on the agenda in 1964 at the request of the Arab Republic of Egypt. In this context, AALCO and the UNHCR had closely collaborated over the years, and to strengthen this partnership a Memorandum of Understanding between the two was penned on 23 May 2003.
