TNAG-1800-FCO40-2560-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-principle-of-first-asylum-1988 — Page 128

R

CC SEAD

ᄅ

ID:91 88/20/90

UND

HKD 243/11

Mr Hum

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

Mr Paul

- 8 JUN 1988

Mr Footman

C

Thiss Slatv

Remarks by

RY

aken

NUM SWEDE WOME

43

1. CC BY FAX to

Þówallar,.

UK Mis Gener

Ambassador Jonathan Moore

+ PA. U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs

8/6

IRAC Conference on First Asylum in Southeast Asia 2.

June 6, 1988 Washington, D.C.

R Fortman,

HID,

FLO

ec Mr Thomas

SEAD

した

It is a pleasure to be here today among friends who share an abiding concern for the plight of refugees and displaced persons, particularly those from Indochina who now live in camps throughout Southeast Asia. I join with your morning speaker, my friend and colleague Dick Childress, in congratu- lating IRAC for your foresight in organizing this conference months ago, when the current threat to first asylum was not so clear, and for bringing together so many able and dedicated people to discuss the vital issues which confront us.

me plea

My own personal acquaintance with IRAC happily began almost seven years ago, and it is with great pleasure that I observe how you have grown and developed from a public support group originally focussed on the Indochinese refugee crisis and then concentrating on the resettlement of large numbers of Indo- chinese refugees to an effective resource to all Indochinese communities in the United States. is the transition that was made, deliberately and with fore-

Particularly worthy of pride sight, from an organization directed by concerned, native-born Americans, to one run by the resettled Indochinese themselves so as to give them political voice.

The immediate issue on the minds of all of us concerned with refugees in southeast Asia is the dramatic surge in boat arrivals over the last year first in Thailand, then in Malaysia, and now also in Hong Kong. Pushoffs from Thailand, the announcement of plans to close Pulau Bidong in Malaysia, and vigorous public debate about refugee policy in Hong Kong have once again refocussed attention to the refugees from Indochina. This upsurge, confounding expectations that refugee flows would continue the decline of the preceding six years, combined with lower levels of resettlement have reawakened fears that countries of first asylum would be left with large, unassimilable refugee populations. The recognition that resettlement in and of itself can encourage larger refugee Zlows has contributed to a reduced confidence in dependence upon resettlement on the part of and countries of resettlement.

both countries of first asylum

SJB376