educational assistance whileawaiting adetermination oftheirasylumclaim. Considering therelatively slowpaceintheprocessing ofasylumclaimsinmany countries, theeffects ofprolonged idleness ontheasylum-seekers concerned may involve considerable hardship bothmaterially andpsychologically andcanproveto beaserious strainonfamily relationsh~ps. Itistherefore hopedthat,despite theeconomic recession stillprevailing, manyStateswillseetheirwayto permitting atleastthoseasylum-seekers whoseclaimsappeartobebonafideto takeadvantage ofavailable employment opportunities. 49.Asregards accesstopUblicwelfare, itwillberecalled thatunderarticle 23 ofthe1951UnitedNations Refugee Convention, refugees aresupposed tobeaccorded -11-lie !din led .ght mtry Is In only ely by rs e nd rt e 'I to te ~23 ~dedthesametreatment asnationals. Thepractice ofStatesinthisareacontinued to varywidelyfromhostcountry tohostcountry andsometimes evenwithincountries, especially inthosehavingafederal structure. Thesedifferences areinmany casesareflection ofthegener.al availability offacilities, whichisdependent on thelevelofeconomic activity andthedegreeofdevelopment ofpublicwelfare and socialsecurity structures • 50.Withregardtoaccesstoeducational facilities, thepractice ofStateshas generally continued tobeliberal andgenerous bothwithrespect torecognized refugees aswellastoesylum-seekers, particularly asregards accesstoprimary or elementary education. 51.Refugees indeveloped countries wereusually abletotakeadvantage ofthe secondary andpost-secondary educational facilities inthesamewayasnationals, provided thattheyhadacquired theminimum proficiency intherelevant national or official language and/orhadtakenanypreparatory courses required. 52.Indeveloping countries, however, thesituation withregardtoaccessby refugees tohigherlevelsofeducation wasingeneral lessfavourable since refugees hadtocompete withnationals forverylimited educational facilities. In someofthesecountries, refugees weretherefore required toachieve ahighergrade thannationals inordertobeadmitted tosecondary and '~;'\versity levels. '53.Itisgratifiying tonotethatinallcountries whererefugees encountered difficulties duetolimited educational facilities, efforts continued tobemadeby theauthorities, sometimes inco-operation with ~lHCR,toprovide refugees with accesstoavailable educational facilities atalllevels. 7.Documentation 54.Theimportance ofproviding refugees withidentity documents continued tobe recognized duringthereporting period. Moreover, theneedfortraveldocuments ­ whichhasbeenincreasingly feltinrecentyears-remains oneofthemajor concerns forrefugees intoday's world. 55.Duringthereporting period, refugee identity documents continued tobeissued torefugees, sometimes onalargescale,inanumberofcountries. Insome instances, UNHCRarranged fortheprinting oftheseidentity documents andmade themavailable tothecountries concerned. ~nothercases,theywereprinted locally withUNHCR financial assistance. 56.Inanumberofcountries, identity documents wereissuedtorefugees aspart oflarge-scale registration operations undertaken withtheco-operation orthe finanical assistance ofUNHCR. Suchregistration hasalsoprovedofvaluein I.,.:.enabling theauthorities ofthecountries concerned tokeep.records oftherefugee tpopulation residing. withintheirrespective territories andhasalsofacilitated r,theirefforts toorganize appropriate assistance measures forrefugees. r: 1:t57.Itshould ~epointed outthatinmanycases,identity documents notonly "establish theholder's identity, butalsoattesttohisrefugeestatus. Such evidence ofrefugee statusisofvalueinenabling therefugee totakeadvantage of tthevarious rightsestablished forhisbenefit undertheinternational refugee ~instruments andnational legislation. Ithasprovedtobeofspecial valuein situations whererefugees maybecaughtupinpoliceoperations directed against