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that are made on the paper in front of you I do not want to develop upon in detail now, but would be grateful for your indication of
interest. We will
in the days to come.
then take up the matters of a technical nature
You will permit me, however, to mention one other group of
cases of whom there are fortunately not very many: these are the mentally ill who are presently without chances of resettlement, if they have no relatives in a third country. Some have been abandoned by their family during the escape, some have later been disowned. I appeal to you to find a solution for them under our programmes for the disabled refugees. It would be in line with the humanitarian spirit which characterizes the countries interested in solving refugee problems
if greater understanding is shown towards difficult cases such as those
I have just mentioned.
Under the circumstances and taking into account all relevant factors it seems to me that it is of utmost importance that priority is given to the problems faced by Thailand at this stage. In that
context it seems to us that it would be appropriate to give priority
to those Kampucheans who have a reasonable claim to being accepted for resettlement. After the Kampucheans, particular attention should be paid to the lowland Lao, while continuing, at the established rythm, the intake of hill tribes as well as the Vietnamese boat people.
My Office fully appreciates the difficulties that the countries of resettlement have to face in accepting and integrating refugees. It is, however, equally important that we all appreciate difficulties which the countries of first asylum face. We all know how attitudes evolve, both as regards public opinion and government policies when countries of resettlement themselves become countries of first
asylum. This is why it is so important that the perceptions of countries in South East Asia should be fully understood by the inter- national community and in particular by those who have shown direct
inter
pers