1
An informal working group, comprised of the delegations of
Australia, Netherlands, Norway, USA, Hong Kong, Philippines,
Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore met with UNHCR outside the Steering
Committee to discuss the handling of rescue at sea cases under the
CPA in the light of the Note received from the Singapore Government.
UNHCR clarified that the Note was in response to UNHCR's
proposal which had been formulated after discussions in Geneva with
interested governments, and it was important in the discussion to
concentrate on the elements of the proposal, rather than the actual
Language used. The two issues which should be considered were (a)
the guarantee to be issued by the resettlement countries and (b) the
regional facility to be used for transfer of cases from Singapore.
It was
There was consensus among the resettlement countries present
that the guarantee to be issued to Singapore should be a joint one,
deposited with UNHCR to be given on a ship-by-ship basis.
recognised that a joint guarantee would reflect the commitment of all
countries participating in the CPA and would underline that a special
responsibility vis a vis rescue at sea cases by individual states is
replaced by a collective responsibility. The language should be
similar to that currently used, but instead of guaranteeing
resettlement it will merely guarantee removal from Singapore.
/On the
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