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a) Page 4 - section 3 - Boat People from Hong Kong, first sentence, insert full '
stop after "boat people", delete rest of sentence
b)
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Page 5, section b), para 3 to read "Dr. Gordon Barclay reported that the Coordinating Committee had been recognised by the Thai Government, took note of its deliberations and acted upon them.
3. Business Arising
a) Minute 3c Bangladesh
Mr. Denis Mcnamara (Legal Adviser to UNHCR in London) reported on recent news about the conditions in the camps, which were undoubtedly very serious.
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The main problems were not due to lack of finance the appeal for $15 million had been almost fully met - but to difficulties of implementation.
The UNHCR was not responsible for the operational side which was undertaken by the Bangladesh Government and Red Cross.
of the $15 million, about 88.2 million had been allocated for food but full accounts were still awaited from the Bangladesh authorities. There was concern that food supplies were not reaching those most in need, the children, the women and the elderly. There were great problems of distribution but now volunteers were being recruited to help with this.
A recent cable from UNHCR Geneva expressed concern about undernourished children; a special programme was being set up to deal with this. It had been recommended that all children should now get an adult ration.
A French medical team was waiting to go out and needed 3 months stocks of medical supplies.
To date, some 47,000 had been repatriated to Burma. This showed a considerable speeding up and there was now optimism that this rate would be maintained so that some 160,000 were expected to return by June 1979.
it was estimated that up to 3,000 to 4,000 might remain in Bangladesh. This figure might include those who had already left the camps and had set up for themselves.
Although the Bangladesh Government was hoping that all would return, it was unlikely that all would be repatriated. A programme for those remaining would have to be worked out by the UNпÜK.
Some reports received by agencies diu not entirely agree with the information given by the UNHCR's office; it was important that this should be clarified, especially as some agencies, such as the World YMCA, had been asked for help with sanitation, etc. which would not be needed if the refugees were expected shortly to return to Burma.
Some of the reports had referred to resistance to return by the refugees, and also to the very bad conditions in the camps. It was agreed to get more information urgently.
There was discussion about arrangments being made for return of the refugees. The UNHCR had a representative in Burma; the Burmese Red Cross was active in the camps. Christian Aid was contributing through the Red Cross. During the last few months the Burmese authorities had been very helpful to the voluntary agencies. The estimate given by the Burmese Government for the cost of the return programme was for $7.5 million. it might be necessary to rebuild considerably in the areas which had been destroyed. Meanwhile, there were ten reception centres. As far as possible, arrangements were being made for the refugees to return to
or very near to their own areas.
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