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To stimulate the concern of the international community for the plight of Indochinese refugees, a meeting was held during the Forty-third (Special) Session of the ICEM Council on 21 May 1979. Forty-five governments were represented and special guests included representatives of France, New Zealand, Sweden, Indo- nesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Viet Nam The United Kingdom was represented by an Observer. A resolution on the resettlement of refugees from the Indochina area was adopted unanimously, a copy of which is hereto attached, together with a specially prepared document (MC/1260) on the subject. Pages 11 through 14 of the document contain a series of recommendations to guide govern- ments concerned with this human tragedy.
ICEM has also been able to provide services to Her Majesty's Government on other occasions, in particular in 1973, when at its request an ICEM team was sent to Kampala and subsequently arranged the evacuation to European transit centres of some 5,000 stateless Ugandan Asians.
ICEM, supported by 33 Member Governments and in co-opera- tion with UNHCR, continues to seek new resettlement opportuni- ties for refugees from the Indochina area. A special effort is now being made to interest selected governments in Latin America, where there is a need for skills and a manpower shortage in the agricultural area.
ICEM remains ready to assist the international community in any effort to accelerate the resettlement of Indochinese refugees. It is equally prepared to assist refugees from any other part of the world, provided the financial resources for such assistance are made available. During the first five months of 1979, over 63,000 refugees have already been moved under ICEM auspices. ICEM projects to move at least 120,000 refugees to countries of permanent resettlement in 1979.
7 June 1979