24.
The Convention and Protocol do not apply to people under
dures in their own country. Neither do they apply to refugees
who are only temporarily absent from their homelands, such as
Kampucheans along the border with Thailand who intend to recross
the border as soon as it is feasible. These people are normally
referred to as displaced persons, without the protection of the
Convention.
The Convention by the very nature of its relevance to
an individual's situation is never loosely applied to a group and
therefore not used to describe a mass refugee situation such as
that of the Indo-Chinese.
This does not mean that the only international recognition
for such a crisis is the Convention itself. If that were so, the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would have no
responsibility to play the major role he is currently playing with
Indo-Chinese in South East Asia. His status enjoins him to use
his good offices to ensure the protection, care and maintenance
of those so displaced.
His formal authority in this case derives from a United
Nations General Assembly resolution bringing Indo-Chinese under a
"Special Program for Displaced Persons from Indo-China to Thailand
and other countries in Asia including boat people".
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