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DRAFT STATEMENT ON GENEVA MEETING ON REFUGEES AND DISPLACED PERSONS
IN SOUTH EAST ASIA, TO BE MADE BY MR PETER BLAKER, THE HON THE
MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS IN THE HOUSE
OF COMMONS ON TUESDAY 24 JULY
With your permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on
the Geneva meeting on refugees.
1. In response to the proposal that my rt hon Friend the
Prime Minister made to him on 31 May, and with the support of many
other Governments, the UN Secretary-General called an international
meeting in Geneva on 20/21 July to discuss the problem of refugees
and displaces persons in South-East Asia. Sixty-five countries
were represented. My rt hon and noble Friend the Foreign and
Commonwealth Secretary and I attended the meeting together with the
Governor of Hong Kong. Each Government stated its views. The
UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Dr Waldheim summed up.
noble Friend
2. As my rt hon and/said in his speech, and Dr Waldheim confirmed,
this meeting was unprecedented. It was also important and could
have even more important results. In concentrating international
attention on the plight of the refugees and on the urgent need to
help them and the countries in which they have sought refuge, the
conference was humanitarian. But it was widely agreed that the
problem could not be solved unless attention was also given to its
root causes and that these have been the inhumane policies of Vietnam.
13.