TNAG-1544-FCO40-2108-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-Intergovernmental-Consultativ-1987 — Page 29

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cc: D Barton Esq, HKD, FCO

M T Trevan Esq, UND, FCO

INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE (IGC HONOLULU GROUP)

1.

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I called yesterday on Miss Pearce (Australian Mission) who had agreed to give me an update on the work of the IGC.

2. Miss Pearce informed me that there had, in fact, been no developments since the IGC October meeting with Mr Hocké. The member states were considering Hocké's paper. Miss Pearce added that some members of the Group (not Australia) were not in favour of the UK receiving a copy of the paper as it was only a rough draft. She did agree however, to give me an informal briefing on some of its contents.

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UNHCR had produced the paper at the request of the IGC countries at a June meeting. It was produced following Hocké's visit to South-East Asia and contains a rough framework of proposed action in the area in the short and medium-term. Hocké states that the resettlement phase which started in the late-seventies was over, this durable solution should, however, continue at a slower pace.

*

The primary solution for Kh mer refugees was return; however, any return on a large scale could only be the result of a political solution.

5. The majority of the paper is taken up by the subject Vietnamese refugees as it is, in Hocké's opinion, the biggest problem in the area, Hocké investigated non-~ resettlement durable solutions, which brought a positive

The response from all four governments at the meeting. paper admitted that resettlement could not be the sole remedy and accepted its link with outflow (the pull factor). However, resettlement was still essential in order to avoid the collapse of first asylum countries.

6. The paper reports evidence of a shift in outflow from convention refugees to those fleeing for other reasons. There are four categories of "boat people":

i)

Convention refugees;

ii) Asylum-seekers who would fall into

UNHCR's wider mandate;

iii) Family reunion cases; and

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iv) Economic migrants.

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