BRITISH REFUGEE COUNCIL
Meeting with Mr Derek Tonkin Ambassador - Designate to Thailand and Laos
on 22 January 1986 at F.C.O.
Present:
Mr Tonkin
Margaret O'Grady Martin Lee
Nancy Rice-Jones Bill Allen
Martin Barber
Christian Aid
Christain Outreach Ockenden Venture Ockenden Venture BRC
Mr Tonkin had previously served in Cambodia and as Ambassador in Hanoi. He showed a detailed knowledge of the area and considerable personal sympathy and support for some of the policy lines which BRC has been putting forward in relation to refugees in S.E. Asia.
There was a detailed discussion around the situation on the Thai - Cambodian border, and a briefer review of other regional refugee questions including: the screening programme for Lao refugees in Thailand; voluntary repatriation; priacy; family reunion with relatives in Britain; possible local settlement programmes; and the particular situation of Karen refugees from Burma.
M.B. 30.1.86.