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DESK OFFIC
INDEX
Dear Mr Hartla
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37-39 RUE DE VERMONT
1202 GENEVA
TELEPHONE 34 38 00
33 23 85
9 August 1983
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INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES IN SOUTH EAST ASIA
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1. Michel Moussalli, the UNHCR Director for Protection, prepared the enclosure to his letter of 1 August just in time, he hoped, to get it to the participants in advance of the Honolulu Conference. It records his Office's latest thoughts on the continuing problem of refugees in South East Asia. particular, the paper expresses concern that, despite the massive numbers of refugees who have been resettled outside the area, some 200,000 still remain, durable solutions are becoming more and more difficult to find and there has been a recent serious deterioration in their conditions and in respect of their physical safety.
2. The paper suggests that what is needed is an urgent overall approach aimed at providing durable solutions in order to ensure that UNHCR's fundamental principles of protection are respected. The ideas and recommendations in the document will, it is hoped, form a basis for some co-ordinated government action which would significantly reduce the number of refugees in the region. In the second paragraph of his letter, Mr Moussalli asks for views on the contents of the UNHCR paper and also for any other comments which we might wish to make on the subject.
3. Mr Moussalli took the trouble to call on me before he sent his letter, essentially to draw this paragraph to my attention. He did so in the context of two or three conversations we have had since we debriefed him in late June on his return from a trip to China and Hong Kong. Making it clear that he was speaking confidentially and without the knowledge of the High Commissioner, he then said that he was becoming more and more concerned at the difficulties in protecting the refugees in South East Asia. The Thai/Cambodia border area, where the UNHCR are not allowed to field a permanent presence, was particularly dangerous but, having just seen the new arrangements in Hong Kong, he found their closed camp (the word prison slipped out) policy distasteful. Resettlement opportunities were becoming fewer and refugees were spending longer in camps, thus increasing their vulnerability. UNHCR and governments were simply dealing with the problem as it developed. What they should be doing is making the policy and by doing so preventing or controlling the flow of refugees out of Vietnam. The Orderly Departure Programme (ODP) continued and increasing numbers were leaving by this method but the illegal flow went on and on.
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