TNAG-1800-FCO40-2560-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-principle-of-first-asylum-1988 — Page 208

CONFIDENTIAL

Further International Measures.

We believe that it is desirable to elucidate and elaborate temporary refuge in any further international instrument dealing with admission.

We believe also that the status of a refugee granted temporary refuge should be defined in such an instrument, providing the basic humanitarian standards necessary and appropriate to the nature of temporary refuge.

A major anission in the 1951 UN Convention is the absence of an adequate provision to protect a refugee who is in the country of refuge other than lawfully. Such a person can often find himself in a virtual legal vacuum, with very unsatisfactory consequences from the humanitarian point of view..

A basic requirement of any such international legal regime is that a refugee granted temporary refuge should not be penalised on account of his entry or presence in the country. While it may be necessary to impose restrictions on his freedom of movement, he should be accorded humane treatment and the essential conditions for an existence worthy of a human being. He should not be treated an a criminal or someone undeserving of human respect and sympathy. The principle of equality of treatment requires that there should be no discrimination on grands of race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or country of origin. He should receive all the help and understanding that his tragic situation demands.' His spiritual, moral and material needs should be recognised and met as far as possible. Basic sanitary and health facilities should be provided. Wherever possible, families should be kept together. The refugee should be allowed to send and receive mail and to receive at least limited amounts of material assistance from relatives or friends.

It is particularly important, we believe, that these minimu basic standards should be adhered to by the international cannunity as a whole. In a situation where many important States are still not parties to the 1951 UN Convention, humanitarian provisions dealing with the status and treatment to be accorded refugees who are not lawfully in the country of refuge and are not covered by the 1951 UN Convention are an urgent necessity. We believe that the Sub-Committee should consider the matter of these basic minimum ståndards as an integral aspect of temporary refuge.

We wonder also whether the problems of the large-scale influx should be considered not so much in the context of admission as in connection with the situation arising following admission. It is generally not the admission as such which presents problems but the consequences.

If measures could be agreed upon for dealing with these problems, the political and other difficulties in the way of the admission of refugees could be significantly reduced.

CONFIDENTIAL

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