no longer be defended that Khmer civilians are being returned to
their care and protection. If Thailand were to send thousands of
unprotected civilians en masse back to Kampuchea under these
circumstances it surely would--or should--bring a strong negative
reaction from the international community on humanitarian
grounds.
The United Nations Border Relief Operation (UNBRO) has had
responsibility for delivering international humanitarian aid to
the Khmer at their border camps in Kampuchea and presumably will
continue to perform this function at camps inside Thailand.
UNBRO, in providing this international assistance to the Khmer,
needs to take further steps to assure that the combatants are
separated from the civilians so that the risks are reduced of
civilians in camps being attacked.
So long as the Khmer remained in camps inside Kampuchea, the
UNHCR did not consider them to come under its protection mandate.
If, however, the Khmer remain in Thailand for any period of time,
the UNHCR will be hard pressed to avoid recognizing that they now
do. Where incidents of forced movement of civilians from
Thailand back into Kampuchea occur, where protection problems
erupt in the Khmer camps in Thailand, or where civilian camps are
bombed or otherwise attacked, UNHCR must be drawn to a stronger
concern for this group of people.
Thus far, countries of resettlement have not opted to
process Khmer in the border camps for resettlement and the
Government of Thailand has not requested them to do so.
Khmer in these camps generally have not been clamoring for
Further,
5
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