TNAG-1423-FCO40-1906-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 27

OF REFUGEES IN THE WORLD.

OVER ONE FIFTH OF THE POPULATION OF

AFGHANISTAN HAVE NOW BEEN FORCED TO FLEE THEIR COUNTRY FOLLOWING

THE SOVIET INVASION.

FURTHER EAST THE VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

HAVE BROUGHT CRITICAL PROBLEMS TO THEIR IMMEDIATE SANCTUARIES,

PARTICULARLY HONG KONG. THEY HAVE ALSO DRAWN ATTENTION, WITH

THE GRIM TALES OF PIRATICAL ATTACKS, TO THE PLIGHT AND

this fleemy form oppressin

VULNERABILITY OF ASYLUM SEEKERS EVERYWHERE.

ELSEWHERE, IN

LATIN AMERICA, IN THE MIDDLE EAST OR RECENTLY FOR EXAMPLE ON

THE THAI/CAMBODIAN BORDER THERE ARE SIMILAR STORIES AND MORE

STATISTICS.

trague

MANY OF THESE REFUGEES ARE VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTER; FOR

EXAMPLE THE GREAT DROUGHT NOW SPREADING RELENTLESSLY ACROSS

THE AFRICAN CONTINENT• THESE DISASTERS ARE VERY MUCH IN THE

NEWS. BUT WE NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE MAJORITY OF REFUGEES

IN THE WORLD HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO THESE STRAITS AS A RESULT OF

not nature, MAN-MADE DISASTERS THEY ARE FLEEING FROM EXTERNAL AGGRESSION

OR OCCUPATION. OR THEY ARE ESCAPING WITH THEIR LIVES FROM

INTERNAL PERSECUTION AND OPPRESSION

THE DENTAL OF BASIC HUMAN

RIGHTS IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES • THESE ARE POLITICAL PROBLEMS

WHICH REQUIRE POLITICAL SOLUTIONS; A POINT TO WHICH I SHALL

RETURN.

acts by

THESE REFUGEE PROBLEMS, WHETHER MAN-MADE OR STEMMING FROM

NATURAL DISASTERS ARE COMPOUNDED BECAUSE MOST OF TODAYS 10

ONE

MILLION REFUGEES HAVE LEFT ONE VERY POOR THIRD WORLD COUNTRY TO

SETTLE IN ANOTHER. THEIR ARRIVAL OFTEN HAS A CRITICAL IMPACT

2