8
A
44. The problem was discussed of persons resettled in a country whose flag a rescuing vessel was flying, who wish to rejoin relatives (sometimes close relatives) elsewhere. It was suggested that there should be greater flexi- bility over. facilitating such onward resettlement, in view of the fact that the chance element in sea rescue leading to resettlement in the country giving a resettlement guarantee to facilitate disembarkation led, in some cases, to the splitting of families. It ought to be possible to rectify such "mistakes" in time, relieving the anxieties of refugees who found themselves separated from family members resettled elsewhere.
PROGRAMME OF ORDERLY DEPARTURES FROM THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM
ן.
:
45. The Deputy High Commissioner, who was able to return to the meeting at this point, explained that the programme of orderly departures was being. organized on the basis of exchanges of lists. The Vietnamese authorities provided UNHCR with a list of persons whose exit would be authorized. Countries of resettlement in their turn provided UNHCR with lists of persons to whom they were prepared to issue visas. UNHCR's role was to match the lists, and to schedule the departure on special flights of those whose names appeared on both the Vietnamese list and that of a country of resettlement. So far, since the signing on 31 May of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Vietnamese authorities and UNHCR, two special flights had been organized, bringing out some 250 persons for resettlement in a number of countries. The operation was so far still a fragile one, but confidence in it would build up if flights were organized regularly. The Deputy High Commissioner requested the support of all Governments to assure the smooth running of the operation. He asked that "family reunion" be given as broad an interpretation as possible, to facilitate the departure of persons having family abroad who might otherwise seek other means of leaving Viet Nam.
OTHER ITEMS
46. Mr. MacInnes mentioned that there was shortly to be a meeting of experts on rescue at sea. For further co-ordination on the problems of Indo-Chinese refugees, Mr. Cuénod stated that there were plans for a liaison group composed of members of the United Nations system participating in the operation, the Inter-governmental Committee for European Migration, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Red Cross Societies and the participating voluntary agencies.
Such a liaison group had existed in one form or another for special operations such as the refugees from Bangladesh in India, the South Sudan Operations and the Cyprus operation.
47. In reply to a question from Mr. Konishi about the possibility of food aid to Cambodia, the Deputy High Commissioner said that UNHCR would be watching the situation closely with a view to channelling assistance as soon as this was feasible,
48. On a question as to how UNHCR guided countries on the use of their resettle- ment quotas, Miss Brissimi said that factors to be weighed did not involve simply the number of refugees awaiting permanent solutions in a given country, but emphasis had to be given to the length of waiting periods to which these refugees had been exposed. Thus, priority was given to persons who had been a long time in camps. UNHCR therefore informed Governments of the numbers waiting in each country, and the waiting period to which segments of the refugee population had been subjected, and thus helped them orient their admissions.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.