TNAG-1066-FCO40-1316-Human-rights-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 206

E/CN.4/1503

Annex II page 23

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67. Though some 35 000 people had succeeded in fleeing Kampuchea between 1975-1979, despite violent deterrents to escape which gave rise to estimates that only one in 10 actually managed to cross to Thailand, numbers from April 1979 onwards came to be counted in the hundreds of thousands until there were an esti- mated 650 000 people grouped in makeshift camps on the border or in "holding centres" administered by the Thai military, with the financial support of UNHCR. The macabre spectacle offered to the world that October and the extremely urgent measures put in hand to save lives will not be easily forgotten.

68.

When the mass influxes from Kampuchea began in the early months of 1979, martial law was in force in Thailand. With the anticipated danger of the fighting between opposing forces in Kampuchea spilling over into Thailand, the armed forces were on full alert and frequently exercised their own judgement along the border. Thus in April there were instances of people who sought asylum in Thailand but were

but were sent back across the border. By June 1979, tensions were running high in the whole ASEAN region because of the massive boat and overland influxes. The Thai decided to push back into Kampuchea over 40 000 Kampucheans who had sought refuge within its territory along the border. Evidence available later suggested that several thousand thad succumbed in the immediate border area to mines, malaria and starvation. For its part, the Government of Thailand felt that the burden borne by it was not sufficiently appreciated by the international community. Subsequently, however, announced intentions to repatriate the remaining groups of new arrivals were suspended. Temporary asylum was granted to the increasingly large numbers seeking to cross.

69.

For the fluctuating numbers remaining on the border, estimated at one time to total over half a million people, ICRC and UNICEF set up a joint assistance programme. UNHCR took responsibility for financing

for financing and mounting a

and mounting a programme drawn up for the care and maintenance

and maintenance of Kampucheans in holding centres. Some 170 000 people were admitted into the several centres set up under this programme.

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