Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, we are aware of the Harvard study. As far as Colombians are concerned, we don't have the impression that they would necessarily get a better deal here in Canada. Again, it's difficult to take these types of statistics and say, well, if a Colombian came to Canada he would have a 40% chance of being accepted, and in the U.S. it would be 30%.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, some of those countries are members of the European Union. I recall the question you put to Mr. Fleury. There are some countries in Europe with long experience and expertise in dealing with refugee status determination, while other, newer members of the European Union are now developing their capacity.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As I said in my presentation, Canada's system is of a very high quality. There are a number of states in Europe that also have very high standards. To some extent, they have been seeking to harmonize their standards within the context of the European Union. Certainly for the UNHCR, the one document that is primordial, if you will, in refugee status determination is the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  As Mr. Fleury said before me, the U.S. has a very well-developed system for refugee status determination. In 2005, the U.S. received the second highest number of asylum seekers in the world. Their recognition rate was not too different from Canada's. Last year, nearly 49,000 asylum applicants were lodged in the U.S., about two and a half times the number lodged in Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The ranking of Canada would be either second or third globally. The U.S. is the major resettlement country right now, as it resettles about 50,000 or so people. Canada and Australia, I would say, normally vie for second or third place. But it's in the top three.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Certainly we consider that Europe and North America have quite developed models for the purposes of refugee status determination, but I guess to some extent it depends on what you mean by Europe. In terms of some of the the former Eastern bloc countries, the UNHCR is working to expand their capacities.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, honourable members of the committee, thank you very much for inviting UNHCR to appear before this committee. Joining me, as the chairman said, is my colleague, Mr. Kale, the UNHCR senior protection officer here in our office in Ottawa.