:
2
2
3
5
6
7
9
10
11
12
13
14
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17
18
19
20
21
Σ
23
24
25
20
27
リ
30
31
12
33
34
35
16
are still
11,000 people are waiting here in Hong Kong, when the arrivals of refugees have gone down there might be different reasons. We think that one of the reasons might be what we oall orderly departures, orderly departure is an arrangement by which people can leave Vietnam, they can get an exit visa from Vietnam and an entry visa for a country to which they would like to go, and UNHCR is helpful doing the practical arrangements, They use our facilities and in the beginning it started in 1979, a little more than five years ago, nobody left, we started very, very slowly but the last year it has picked up. In 1984, almost 30,000, it was 29,000 and some bundreds, left Vietnam in this arrangement which we call "The Orderly Departures Programme”. That means they leave by air and not by boat.
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I hope that that is some of the explanation as at least the ther people who have left by air/are not leaving by boat, but I also think they inspire other people to wait until they can have an orderly departure and not have a disorderly. They go from Ho Chi Minh City, they go to Bangkok and from Bangkok all over the world, But still the problem is for us now, the people who have arrived and are here and in other areas and countries in
this region in Malaysia, Thailand, etc, and for those who are here especially, the long-stayers, we would like to do whatever we can and I the UNHCR will continue to monitor this problem
and do whatever we can to urge resettlement countries to still
not forget the last group of refugees, some of them having
waited for more than three or four years and that is a very
tragic situation for a human being,
K
Let me end by saying we are very grateful to Hong Kong to the authorities, the Government here and to the people because Houg Kong has given asylum and never, never refused to give asylum to refugees coming here and never forcad them back against their will, and treated them well, but of course, they would like as we would like to see a solution - a durable solution, for these refugees.
Thank you!