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NKK 243
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RECEIVED
15 October 1979,
DESK INDEX
PA
Mo
828.11
MISERY Action Taken
u/c.
C S Stitt Esq
SEAD
FA 243|1
FCO
Date
19 ОСТ 1979
INDEX
P/A
Dear Clive
UNHCR: MEETING ON RESETTLEMENT OF INDO CHINESE REFUGEES, 15 OCTOBER
/
nez(1820%
1. Taking advantage of the current session of the Executive Committee UNHCR called a meeting of delegations at "expert" level, as a follow-up to the 25 July meeting on resettlement and the Rescue at Sea meeting in August. It was chaired by the Deputy High Commissioner, De Haan, who was flanked by Cuenod, Assistant Director of Assistance, and Miss Brissimi, head of the Resettle- ment Section. Although UNHCR will in due course produce a report of the meeting, points of interest for us were:-
A) Re settlement quotas and criteria
De Haan said that UNHCR were moving 1,000 refugees a day out of the region. The US representative commented that at this rate (365,000 a year) the camps would be emptied within 12 months, but that at the present rate of exodus (10,000 per month) another 120,000 to 180,000 could be expected to arrive in them over the next year. The Norwegian representative asked what had happened to the undertaking in July that the countries of first asylum should themselves settle some of the case load. In answer, De Haan referred to the Malaysian acceptance of a group of muslim Kampuchean refugees, China's resettlement programme and refugees working in Hong Kong as indication of what the countries in the region were doing. He expected that as the problem became more manageable UNHCR would be able to pursue this further with South East Asian countries. The Canadian representative said that Canada would take up to 50,000 in 1979/80, at a rate of 3,000 plus a month and that 20,000 will have been resettled by the end of this year.
Miss Brissimi appealed to governments to give at least one month's notice before sending out a selection team to UNHCR, (I was told privately that short notice was one of the difficulties which led to the problems encountered in Hong Kong by Birt, Home Office, and described in his report on his visit in August), and requested that governments be especially, generous in taking handicapped refugees and unaccompanied minors. Spain and New Zealand announced they were taking 250 and 50 respectively from Hong Kong.
B) Special Processing Centres (SPCs)
De Haan explained that SPCs were for those in camps in ASEAN countries and Hong Kong who had already secured a resettlement
1875
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