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of the Huey Fong police discovered thin gold leaf worth about 5 million
Hong Kong dollars. Two further common law conspiracy charges have been
brought against the master and ten other persons and further charges may
be made. Investigations are being made into the voyage of the Skyluck,
another ocean going vessel, which arrived without permission on 7 February.
The master claimed that 2,638 passengers on board were rescued at sea.
Refugees, deprived of all their possessions, are leaving Vietnam
on small or large boats for hazardous voyages to neighbouring countries which
have no wish to receive them. The awful risks run by the "boat refugees"
show clearly, as Lord Goronwy-Roberts said in the British Parliament on
14 February, that it is not poverty alone from which they are fleeing. The
British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office referred
then to the detention without trial of many Vietnamese and Laotians and to
the forced movement of people in Vietnam to new economic zones and
restrictions on personal, political, religious and other freedoms.
International consultations
Solving the refugee problem now demands a concerted international
effort, and in mid-December representatives of 32 countries attended
consultations in Geneva, held at the request of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although some 4,000 additional
resettlement places were pledged and additional financial contributions
worth £12 million were announced, available places still fall far short of
the requirement.
Foreign Ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), at a special meeting in Bangkok on 12-13 January 1979, reviewed
the economic, social, political and security aspects of the influx of both
refugees and illegal immigrants into their area. They stressed the
importance of persuading a wider range of countries to offer permanent
settlement opportunities. The Indonesian Foreign Minister announced