TNAG-0899-FCO40-1109-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 92

Mr. Chairman,

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REFUCCES

Cammon

STATEMENT

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I now wish to turn to a major aspect of the UNHCR's work

which has received close international attention over the past year

and which is the subject of the Secretary-General's report (A/34/627)

presented yesterday by Mr. Waldheim. This is the question of

Vietnamese, Kampuchean and Laotian refugees and displaced persons

in South-East Asia. The general views which I express here are those

of the European Community and its nine Member States. These views

have been supplemented by our individual delegations in interventions

in the course of this debate.,

Firstly, I wish to recall that the Minister for Foreign Affairs

of Ireland, speaking on behalf of the European Community and its

ninę Member States at the International Meeting on South-East

Asia in Geneva in July last, set out certain basic principles which

we believe should be respected in these questions. These principles

encompass respect for human rights, including the right to asylum

and non-refoulement.

As the report of the High Commissioner (A/34/12) and the

report of the Secretary-General (A/34/627) both point out, the

problem of refugees in South-East Asia is not a new one. For a

number of years past there has been a considerable and constant flow

of people out of the Indo-China region. Within the past year,

however, this movement has reached extraordinary proportions

and has become a matter for alarm not only

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