TNAG-0899-FCO40-1109-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 86

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whether they be in Africa, Asia, Latin America or Europe.

Such

situations reflect ill on the governments from which refugees are

fleeing, since it is generally only oppression of the most severe

kind which forces people to uproot themselves from their homes,

usually with few or no possessions, and to seek refuge in strange

lands.

I

The United Kingdom is a member of the High Commissioner's

Executive Committee. My delegation made a statement at its recent

meeting last month and this is not the occasion to repeat it.

shall therefore devote my comments largely to the report on the

Geneva Conference, together with some additional comments on the

situation in Africa.

SOUTH EAST ASIA

The Secretary-General's report marks the urgency and scale

of the boat refugee crisis, which reached its peak in June.

Dr Waldheim's response to Mrs Thatcher, the British Prime Minister's

call led to remarkable increases in the number of places and in the

funds available for this refugee problem. His report gives us an

opportunity to assess progress.

At the Geneva meeting, Lord Carrington identified two aims:

to get the Government of Vietnam to exercise a humane policy in respect of its own people; and to find ways of sharing the unfair

burden being borne by Hong Kong and the countries of South East

Asia.

/The solution