observance of the obligations incumbent upon all ships' masters towards vessels in distress. The rescue at sea of boat cases has, however, posed special difficulties.
21.
From the beginning, certain Governments of the region have been unwilling to allow disembarkation of rescued boat cases without guaranteed resettlement even though UNHCR undertook to meet the expenses incurred. While the majority of flag States or States of ownership of rescuing vessels have been ready to provide resettlement guarantees, this has not always been the case. There are indications that some Governments, whose practice had previously been liberal in this regard, may be reconsidering their position. Heavy costs have also been incurred by owners as a result of the proper and exemplary discharge of an internationally recognized obligation by their masters.
22. The situation has been exacerbated by the fact that some boats in need of rescue on the high seas had already reached land only to be turned away or towed back to sea.
23. None of these factors condones failure to meet the obligation regarding rescue at sea. However, the dilemma faced by masters in the present situation
is very real.
24.
Whether because their distress signals were ignored or simply never seen, boat people on the high seas are dying. Urgent measures must be taken to remedy this situation.
C. Orderly departure from Viet Nam
25. In furtherance of a conclusion of the Consultative Meeting held in December 1978, UNHCR signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Viet Nam on 30 May 1979, concerning the orderly departure of family reunion and other humanitarian cases from that country. It is hoped that early implementation of this programme will ease the situation in some measure.
D. Refugee processing centres
26.
As a result of proposals made at the Consultative Meeting and at a subsequent meeting called by the ASEAN Group in May 1979 in Jakarta, a mission led by UNHCR has recently examined the feasibility of establishing refugee processing centres on the islands of Galang and Tara, in Indonesia and the Philippines, respectively. These Governments have indicated that the sites could accommodate some 10,000 and 7,000 persons, respectively, in transit. They would be drawn from boat people in the ASEAN region who had resettlement guarantees, but whose onward movement was not imminent.
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