E/1979/95 page 34
180. The Latin American refugees were generally admitted in transit. Thus, UNHCR actively sought resettlement opportunities for this group and provided care and maintenance, recreational and para-educational activities pending durable solutions as well as legal assistance and counselling services.
181. Total expenditure in this area amounted to some $593,900 of which $336,000 were for relief and other assistance.
B.
North America
182. UNHCR continued to co-operate with the Governments of Canada and the United States through its Branch Office in Ottava and its Regional Office in New York. The latter also maintained close relations with the United Nations and members of its system.
183. In the field of protection, UNHCR has played a consultative role especially as regards the granting of refugee status. Material assistance to refugees in North America however was handled directly by a number of Government bodies and voluntary agencies with whom UNHCR worked on matters relating to fund raising and resettlement.
184. In this regard as in 1977, the largest groups offered resettlement opportunities in Canada and the United States were refugees and displaced persons from Indo-China. By the end of the year, the number admitted by Canada since 1975 had exceeded 10,000 of whom 1,810 were "boat people"; the United States had accepted almost 60,000, of whom 22,935 were "boat people". During 1978 alone nearly 30,000 Indo-Chinese were admitted to the United States and by the end of the year they were arriving at the rate of approximately 4,000 persons a month. Canada and the United States also helped reduce the residual caseload in Argentina and Peru by accepting persons who could not be resettled in Latin America.
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