Mer Barton
(rec' for UND today - can't why!) Bini
thank
CONFIDENTIAL
(?c alicandy on file
MEETING WITH M. J P HOCKÉ, UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
29 OCTOBER 1986, 10.45 AM.
PRESENT:
Mr Williams UND
Mrs Rogerson UND
LIKEKS 243/3 RECEIVED IN REGISTRY 12 DEC 1986
Mr Layden HKD
Mr Poston SAD
Mr Court SEAD
Ms Walker UND
DESK OFFICER LUE)
YA
M.
Hocké
Mr Adams Head of UNHCR
Fundraising Service
Mr Wolfing, UNHCR
Representative in UK
Miss Khan Deputy UNHCR
Action Taken
met
3/12
Representative in UK
I SOUTH-EAST ASIA
(a) General
1. Mr Court said that this was one area of particular concern to
HMG. He referred to the commitment made in our response to the
SCORRI report to resettle up to 60 Indo-Chinese from places other than Hong Kong. We were now pursuing this, as well as maintaining
contact with other Governments on alternative solutions to the
problem. In this context, we were interested in the screening programme instituted by UNHCR for Lao refugees: how was this progressing, and were there any lessons to be learnt from it for 'dealing with the Cambodians and Vietnamese?
2.
M Hocké replied that in the early 1980s, in the wake of the 1979 refugee conference, at which an international commitment was made to resettle all refugees leaving Vietnam, resettlement was generally considered to be the only answer to the problem. The end of this phase had been reached however, and it was time to think what to do
next. For the Cambodians and Lao for, whom resettlement was not
an option and whom the Thais would not accept for local integration, repatriation was the only practicable alternative. As regards the Vietnamese, the question was, were the international community ready
to resettle the annual outflow of 50,000 refugees? The total
number of places available would almost certainly not match this figure. ASEAN countries could offer only temporary asylum, not
NO3AAT
CONFIDENTIAL
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