and Thailand), and an increasing number of other countries around the world, under the aegis of the UNHCR, have made a major effort to support the Indochinese refugee program. Following a UNHCR-sponsored conference in December 1978, the ASEAN governments met with other interested governments and the UNHCR to go over the ways and means to deal with the situation. After the dramatic outpouring of boat refugees from Vietnam into Malaysia and Indonesia, the UN Secretary General, following a British initiative, convened another conference at Geneva on July 20-21, 1979. This meeting resulted in pledges of about 290,000 resettlement offers over the next 18 months and included Vice President Mondale's reiteration of President Carter's pledge to double the U.S. admission rate from 7,000 to 14,000 per month through FY 1980. Financial pledges at the conference amounted to some $160 million, almost doubling the UNHCR's financial resources. The United States and other countries made major increases in contributions. Japan, not a major resettlement country but vitally interested in the peace and security of East Asia, indicated it would provide funds for 50 percent of the UNHCR budget. The European Economic Community contributed about $31 million for the UNHCR General Program and $253,000 for refugee processing centers and other related funds. Governments and entities in Europe and throughout the world have contributed or made pledges to contribute to the UNHCR's program. Not to be overlooked in this great endeavor, of course, are the commitments of resources and effort by governments in first asylum countries and resettlement countries in dealing directly with the refugee, as well as the tremendous contributions of private citizens and their organizations throughout the world. A further initiative was taken by the Philippine Government, which offered its country as a site for a Refugee Processing Center (RPC) for 50,000 refugees, supplementing its earlier offer. The Indonesian Government had previously offered a site for 10,000 refugees. The purpose of the Centers is to relieve the strain on the first asylum countries holding refugees already approved for resettlement elsewhere but whose turn for departure has not yet come. The Centers, under the general management of the UNHCR and the host governments, will provide a more stable atmosphere in which the refugees will be given training and orientation programs to ease their transition to their new lives. The Philippine RPC was officially dedicated in January 1980 and already holds 10,000 refugees. UNHCR plans the opening of the Indonesian RPC in mid-year. A proposal to establish an International Fund for Refugee Resettlement was also made at the conference by the United States. The Fund is aimed at assisting developing countries who accept refugees for resettlement to obtain financial assistance in returning refugees to self-sufficient and productive lives. The Fund potentially could save millions of dollars now being spent annually for the care and maintenance of refugees in countries where they are not being integrated into the economy. In convening the conference, the UNHCR emphasized that its purpose was humanitarian and that the politics of the situation should be eschewed. Vietnam, while denying responsibility for the refugee exodus, informed the UN Secretary General that it would undertake to attempt to stop what it termed "illegal" departures for a time. At the same time, Vietnam called for prompt implementation of a system of orderly departures from Vietnam directly to countries of permanent resettlement along lines it had been negotiating with the UNHCR. The United States and other countries are interested in establishing such a system for family reunification, and discussions with the Vietnamese over the arrangements under which this program could be carried out are progressing slowly. It is possible that such a system can be expanded in the future, but at present, priority is given to resettling the hundreds of thousands of refugees already in camps in first asylum countries and those continuing to arrive each month. Whether Vietnam will resume its practice of forcing out large numbers if direct resettlement does not reach its expectations, remains to be seen. As a result of the initiatives taken at the Geneva meeting on Indochinese refugees in July, the immediate humanitarian situation in Southeast Asia, except for Kampuchea, seems to be somewhat less desperate. Vietnam has apparently used its domestic authority to curb a great part of its refugee exodus. With declining arrival rates 22 and accelerated departure rates for resettlement countries, the refugee population has been reduced and new arrivals are generally receiving asylum. While this is an obvious restriction on the freedom to escape, the reduced refugee arrival rate has made possible reduction of camp populations and eased pressures on first asylum countries. Although the immediate refugee situation in Southeast Asia, with the notable exception of Kampuchea, seems to be more stable than it was at the time of the Geneva meeting on Indochinese refugees, the situation remains volatile with the potential for a return to a crisis situation. In mid-September, Vietnamese forces launched a new offensive in Kampuchea. This offensive generated additional refugee pressures on Thailand, with tens of thousands of Kampucheans dependent on international relief, seeking safety on the Thai border to escape widespread famine and renewed conflict, and some 150,000 Khmer refugees in Thai holding centers. Disease and malnutrition took a heavy toll, and while international relief operations were successful in averting an even more tragic situation on the border and internally in Kampuchea, the threat of famine still exists. |