DSR 11C
CONFIDENTIAL
minorities who have fled from Laos and Vietnam, the
Vietnamese of Chinese ethnic origin, or the Catholics of
Vietnam. There could be considerable difficulties in
establishing and justifying differences of treatment for
these sub-groups.
3. The problem is aggravated by the fact that it is now
general practice to refer to all those who have left
Indochina as refugees. Research Department files on the
1979 Conference on Refugees and Displaced Persons in
South-East Asia (20-21 July 1979) do not show that any
formal or informal agreement was reached between
participating governments and UNHCR to a group clas-
sification of the Vietnamese as refugees.
merely to have been a number of speeches culminating in a
summing up by the Secretary General of the consensus
which had emerged on the framework of a plan of action.
This does not mention the question of classification.
There seems to
4. The use of the word "refugees" as an accompaniment to
the normal "displaced persons" came promenently into the
debate at the end of 1978. The report of the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees for April 1977 March 1978
continues to use only the words "displaced persons" as
regards those leaving Indochina. This usage had
originally been given sanction by the 1975 GA resolution
3455 on Humanitarian assistance to the Indochinese
displaced persons.
:
5. However the UNHCR report for April 1978 to March 1979
CONFIDENTIAL