TNAG-1423-FCO40-1906-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 28

ON THEIR ANXIOUS HOSTS. EFFORTS MADE BY THESE COUNTRIES TO

COPE IN A HUMANITARIAN WAY, DESPITE THE OVERWHELMING STRAIN ON

THEIR RESOURCES, IS OFTEN NOT SUFFICIENTLY RECOGNISED.

BUT THE

PROBLEM IS FREQUENTLY BEYOND THEM. THEY HAVE ENOUGH PROBLEMS OF

THEIR OWN. THE REST OF THE WORLD MUST SHARE THE BURDEN.

IT IS

A GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY.

THE UNITED KINGDOM THEREFORE SHARES THIS RESPONSIBILITY.

WE

HAVE AS A NATION A LONG AND PROUD TRADITION OF GRANTING REFUGE

TO THOSE IN FEAR OF PERSECUTION. WE UNDERLINED THIS CONCERN BY

BECOMING A PARTY TO THE 1951 GENEVA CONVENTION ON REFUGEES.

SEVEN YEARS LATER IT WAS A BRITISH INITIATIVE, UNDER THE

GOVERNMENT OF MY NOBLE FRIEND THE EARL OF STOCKTON, WHICH LED TO

THE 1959 UNITED NATIONS WORLD REFUGEE YEAR. WE ALSO TOOK THE

INITIATIVE IN CALLING FOR THE CONVENING OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES IN 1979. and i

recall

repeating the statemen

A

Me

house

THE AIM OF ALL THESE MEASURES WAS TO GIVE AN INTERNATIONAL

DIMENSION TO THE PROBLEM. WE BELIEVE THAT THE RIGHT APPROACH

IS TO CHANNEL OUR HELP THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

AND VOLUNTARY AGENCIES WHICH ARE CAPABLE OF REACTING TO THIS

INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION. THE MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AGENCY IN

THIS FIELD IS THE OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER

FOR REFUGEES. ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED IN 1951 FOR A PERIOD OF

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