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whole population of Geneva have died in the South China Sea because they could not, or would not, continue living in their own country. They have been driven out by no natural disaster. One can only conclude that they have left because the policies of the Vietnamese Government made it impossible for them to remain; and their fate, caused by the policies of the Vietnamese Government,
is now the international concern of us all.
The Vietnamese Government is now proposing that its extremely limited seven-point understanding with the UNHCR, totally inadequte in scale, should be implemented, which is taken to mean departure of all those who wish to leave Vietnam. This is a suggestion that the international community will need to study
with great attention and I have as of now only two comments. First, Vietnam must acknowledge that no country has the right to force on other countries a sector of its own population which it no longer wants within its borders. Any Long-term programme for the orderly departure of people who wish to leave Vietnam must be seen to be just and fair. It must be truly voluntary, with
no element of open or hidden compulsion. Those who wish to leave
must be allowed to continue their normal lives in Vietnam while
they await departure. There should be no need for camps in Vietnam. If they leave there must be arrangements to ensure that they do
in numbers and at times which the rest of the world can absorb.
Secondly, the international community which is trying to lift the burden of refugees in the countries and territories of first asylum must now expect Vietnam to cease the pressures on those people who are being forced to flee so that they stop their flight. The world needs sufficient time for those refugees already in South-East Asia and Hong Kong to be resettled. This is an urgent requirement. Vietnam must respond to it and thereby show that
the world can rely on its assurances.
I
Mr Secretary-General, we cannot hope to resolve all the aspects of this tragedy before we leave this Conference. But we look to you to give us a clear direction for the following months. suggest that we need first to ensure that existing pressures are eased. For this we need commitments from countries outside the
are a to receive refugees for final settlement and to contribute
/generously