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CONSULTATIVE MEETING OF RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES AT UNHCR EXCOM
14 OCTOBER 1983
Attended By:
Australia (Sadleir, Griffith, Mott)
Japan (Chiba)
USA (Purcell, Beck)
Canada (Sheehan, Molloy)
FRG (Lambash)
HKK 243/2
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
3- NOV 1983
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY Action Taken
France (Mme Costa de Beauregard)
UK (Peate, Adams, Williamson) UNHCR (Symington)
1. Australia (Ambassador Sadleir), who had called the meeting, said that they saw the Honolulu Conference as a new phase in the continuing dialogue of solving South East Asia refugee problems. The Conference had enabled the major resettlement countries to have a frank dialogue on the political support which UNHCR would require in its primary and central role of finding durable solutions to the Indo-Chinese refugee problem. The Conference was, in their view, a marked success. There was a consensus on the need for greater burden sharing. Australia would continue to resettle Indo- Chinese at a steady rate, but it wished to avoid short term "off- takes" of refugees.
2. The Australian Minister who attended the Honolulu Conference, had found that ASEAN countries agreed that resettlement was not the only answer, a residual hard core was inevitable. There was a need to talk to the countries causing refugee outflows, especially Vietnam. The Australian Minister had been asked by Prasong in Thailand to speak to the Hanoi Government about Lao and Khmer refugees. If the flow of refugees ended, ASEAN might grudgingly accept some local integration, but the Australians had not pursued this.
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