CALL
CALL BY SIR LESLIE KIRKLEY: 13 JUNE 1979
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POINTS TO MAKE
General
1. As the Home Secretary said on 11 June, the Government warmly appreciates the voluntary organisations' work on the Indo-Chinese refugee problem, both in the United Kingdom and in South East Asia.
Conference
2. The problem has assumed international dimensions. That is why the Prime Minister called for a conference under UN auspices. Preliminary reactions are encouraging. Our aim is to mobilise more
support for the UNHCR, in money and resettlement places, and to bring maximum pressure of publicity to bear on Vietnam and her friends, since we realise that only a change in Vietnamese policy will prevent the situation from getting worse.
Thailand
3. We recognise that Thailand is bearing a disproportionately heavy burden of refugees from Laos and Cambodia. The most recent influx
of Cambodians, fleeing the fighting between the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese, threatens to swamp the Thai ability to control the situation.
4.
(Defensive). We share the concern expressed on humanitarian grounds at reports that the Thai Government is refusing to grant refugee status to Cambodia, and is forcibly repatriating them across the border. We have done what we can to help support the representations of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on this question, and have also attempted to improve relations between the Thai authorities and the UNHCR.
Assistance to UNHCR
5. UK is third largest contributor to UNHCR funds (after USA and Japan). In 1978, we gave nearly £7m of which over £2m was earmarked for UNHCR programme in South East Asia, and we have already pledged £3.5m for the 1979 General Programme. UK is, therefore, well ahead of many other countries who could afford to give the UNHCR more than
we can.
We will consider sympathetically whether more funds can be given to UNHCR as soon as the overall expenditure position on the Aid Programme is assessed.
/The Situation