Speech #1010032526

President. today in Geneva the U.N. SecretaryGeneral. in cooperation with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. will convene the Second International Conference on Indochinese Refugees to set the stage for more effective international action to deal with the continuing problem of refugees from Indochina. Ten years ago. representatives from over 60 countries met in Geneva to consider for the first time at a major conference the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees in Southeast Asia. After 2 days of intensive diplomatic activity. and after a great deal of preparatory work by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. the meeting concluded with a coordinated. international response to the Indochinese refugee problem. That first meeting served as a catalyst for the worlds original effort to address the urgent humanitarian needs of refugees scattered throughout Southeast Asiamany unable at the time to even find temporary safe haven. their leaky boats being pushed out to sea. all facing uncertain futures with few or no prospects for resettlement elsewhere. The 1979 Geneva conference dealt with this crisis by doubling the resources made available to provide emergency care and assistance. It secured agreement by the countries of first asylum that they would provide temporary safe haven if they were assured of international support. It also saw a new commitment by third countries. including the United States. to provide permanent resettlement opportunities for refugees outside the region. Finally. and perhaps most important. it set the stage for the first initiative to deal with the problem at its sourcethe Orderly Departure Programto provide an alternative to forcing tens of thousands of refugees to flee by boat with great risk and loss of human life. During the decade since. the pact agreed upon in Geneva in 1979 has workedalthough it was limited in scope. and there have clearly been serious lapses and more than a few broken promises. Despite this. the basic understandings between the countries of first asylum that they would provide protection for refugees if the countries outside the region provided assistance and opportunities for resettlement. has held for most of the decade. That is. until recent months. Impatience with the continuing flow has grown. there seems to be no end in sight. The spectre of a large. unanticipated residue of refugees left in Southeast Asia has increasingly alarmed the countries of first asylum. Finally. the continued high demand for third country resettlement has. after a decade. taxed the resources and patience of outside countries as well. The lack of any real management or control of the flow through the Orderly Departure Program. has also brought despair.