UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Distr. GENERAL
A
161
A/AC.96/INF.150 6 October 1976
Original:
ENCLISH
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
HIGH COMMISSIONER'S PROGRAMME
Twenty-seventh session
NOTE ON PERSONS LEAVING THE INDO-CHINESE PENINSULA IN SMALL BOATS
(Submitted by the High Commissioner for information 1)
1. Reference has been made in the Report on International Protection
(document A/AC.96/527, paragraph 14) and in the Report on Resettlement of Refugees (document A/AC.96/529, paragraph 24) to the problem of persons leaving their countries of origin in Indochina in small boats. This problem has already been brought to the attention of governments: in the first instance at a meeting of Permanent Representatives in Geneva of States members of the Executive Committee, on 25 June 1976; and later by letter dated 28 July 1976 requesting resettlement opportunities for these persons.
2. According to information available in Geneva on 1 October 1976, temporary asylum had been granted to 2,644 persons arriving by boat from the Indochinese peninsula in various countries in the region. A further 279 persons were awaiting temporary asylum or had left for unknown destinations. Annex I provides a breakdown of these figures.
3. Of the new arrivals, 1,128 have to date been accepted for permanent resettlement in third countries, principally the United States and France, as shown in Annex II. Permanent solutions thus remain to be found for some 1,500 of those who have arrived by boat.
4. While the majority of persons have reached neighbouring countries in their own small boats, some hundreds were rescued at sea by other vessels when their own foundered or encountered other difficulties. In general, it would appear that the legal provisions relating to assistance to persons at sea, contained in the Brussels Convention of 1910 and the Geneva Convention on the High Sea of 1958, have been adhered to by the rescuing vessels. There is, however, continuing need for ship masters in a spirit of human solidarity to come to the rescue of those in distress on the high seas.
5. In a small number of cases, both where persons have been rescued and where they have arrived in their own boats, permission to disembark at their first port of call has been refused, even where this might have endangered the lives of the displaced persons. The High Commissioner has made a number of démarches, on humanitarian grounds, with governments concerned to prevent this practice which is contrary to both humanitarian and traditional asylum principles. In other cases, temporary asylum has been granted only after the flag State of the rescuing vessel has given a written guarantee that, if necessary, the persons would be admitted permanently to that country.
GE.76-10095