TNAG-1905-FCO40-2709-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-voluntary-and-mandatory-repat-1989 — Page 90

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An informal working group, comprised of the delegations of

Australia, Netherlands, Norway, USA, Hong Kong, Philippines,

Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore met with UNHCR outside the Steering

Committee to discuss the handling of rescue at sea cases under the

CPA in the light of the Note received from the Singapore Government.

UNHCR clarified that the Note was in response to UNHCR's

proposal which had been formulated after discussions in Geneva with

interested governments, and it was important in the discussion to

concentrate on the elements of the proposal, rather than the actual

Language used. The two issues which should be considered were (a)

the guarantee to be issued by the resettlement countries and (b) the

regional facility to be used for transfer of cases from Singapore.

It was

There was consensus among the resettlement countries present

that the guarantee to be issued to Singapore should be a joint one,

deposited with UNHCR to be given on a ship-by-ship basis.

recognised that a joint guarantee would reflect the commitment of all

countries participating in the CPA and would underline that a special

responsibility vis a vis rescue at sea cases by individual states is

replaced by a collective responsibility. The language should be

similar to that currently used, but instead of guaranteeing

resettlement it will merely guarantee removal from Singapore.

/On the

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