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pledged extra funds worth $190 million in support of the UNHCR's work. In 1979 Britain gave £47 million for the UNCHR.
At the same time, in his closing address to the conference, the UN Secretary-General (then Mr Waldheim) made a strong plea for a reduction in the disorderly exodus of thousands of people from their homelands. The British Government has echoed this theme, stressing that the root cause of the exodus from Vietnam has been political and economic repression.
In 1979 it called on the Vietnamese Government to face up to the responsibility it had incurred in creating the refugee problem. The negotiation of a system of selective emigration from Vietnam, known as the Orderly Departure Programme (ODP), between the UNHCR and the Vietnamese Government in May 1979 represented a certain recognition of this responsibility. It has provided a valuable alternative to irregular departures by boat.
Britain, me anwhile, has urged the Vietnamese leaders to do more to improve political and economic conditions and to rectify human rights abuses, so that the flow of refugees can be reduced. She has spoken about the human rights abuses at sessions of the UN Human Rights Commission and has encouraged other UN member States to put pressure on Vietnam to bring about improvements.
Since the inception of the ODP in 1979, over 85,000 Vietnamese have left Vietnam direct by air for permanent settlement elsewhere. But about an equal number are waiting under this scheme for the arrangements to be completed for their departure - which can take up to five years.
People accepted under the scheme must have a place to go to (often to join other family members) and permission from "host countries" as well as the Vietnamese. The latter usually refuse exit permits for certain categories, such as soldiers and conscripts, highly educated people, and those facing trial. The ODP was agreed on-between- the UNHCR and the Vietnamese Government in May 1979-shortly before the Geneva-conferenee. In 1984, nearly-25,000-boat people arrived-in first-asylum-countries. For the first time their number was exceeded by those leaving under the ODR (29,154).
In response to international concern, 12 countries have contributed towards controlling piracy against Vietnamese boat people. A special fund was set up in 1982 under the auspices of the UNHCR to support the Thai Navy's operations to combat piracy in the Gulf of Thailand. Although the rate of attacks is still distressingly high,
in 1984 less the operations appear to have been partially successful: than 50 per cent of the refugee boats arriving in Thailand were reporting attacks compared with 75 per cent two years ago
Definition of a refugee
одовороте
According to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, a refugee is someone who is outside the country of his nationality "owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion" and is unable or, because of such fear, unwilling to seek his own country's protection. Although the Convention has not been extended to Hong Kong, all refugees arriving there from Vietnam have
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