Saving refugees or saving borders? Southeast Asian States and the Indochinese refugee crisis

Abstract

This article charts the response of Southeast Asian states to the Indochinese refugee crisis between 1975 and the 1979 Geneva conference. The purpose of this article is to understand why the outbreak of Southeast Asia's largest refugee crisis since World War II did not prompt the region's states to accede to international refugee law. It is argued that most Southeast Asian states continued to reject international refugee law during this period because they believed that their interests were best served by this policy. That is, Southeast Asian states conducted a form of ‘refugee manipulation’ because their persistent refusal to sign the instruments compelled Western states (the United States in particular) to provide material assistance to the refugees and offer resettlement places. Thus, the Southeast Asian states' strategy placed the onus for responding to the crisis on international institutions and Western states. Furthermore, many Southeast Asian states justified their refusal to sign the instruments by referring to the latter's Eurocentric character. Ultimately, this argument allowed many of the region's states to absolve themselves of responsibility for taking the lead in responding to the crisis.

Notes

1 Courtland W. Robinson, Terms of Refuge: The Indochinese Exodus and the International Response, (London: Zed Books, 1998), p. 2; UNHCR, The Status of Refugees, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 102; Gill Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). However, Robinson, Terms of Refuge; UNHCR, The Status of Refugees and Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics all note that the precise number of Indochinese who sought asylum may never be known because thousands perished in Southeast Asian waters at the hands of pirates. In addition, there were many who were able to seek refuge in the region—but did so covertly and thus their numbers are unknown.

2 Philippines acceded 22 July 1981.

3 The states defined as within Southeast Asia corresponds to the present membership of ASEAN: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. Only the Philippines during the Indochinese crisis acceded to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol (in 1981) and Cambodia acceded in 1995. Yet neither has implemented the instruments at domestic level, resulting in these instruments having little effect in either Cambodia or the Philippines.

4 Vitit Muntarbhorn, The Status of Refugees in Asia, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992); Karen Jacobsen, ‘Factors Influencing the Policy Responses of Host Governments to Mass Refugee Influxes’, International Migration Review, 30, 3, (1996), pp. 655–679; Jeff Crisp, ‘Who Has Counted the Refugees? UNHCR and the Politics of Numbers’, New Issues in Refugee Research, (Geneva: UNHCR Policy Research Unit, 1999); Piyasiri Wickramasekera, ‘Asian Labour Migration: Issues and Challenges in an Era of Globalization’, International Migration Papers (Geneva), 57, (2002), pp. 8, 21–23; Refugees International, ‘Protecting Burmese Refugees in Thailand’, Asian News Tribune, (25 January 2003) <http:///www.asiantribune.com/show_news> accessed 14 April 2005; Martin, V., ‘Regional Summaries’, World Refugee Survey 2004 (Washington: United States Committee for Refugees, 2004); UN News, ‘Malaysia urged by UN agency to protect refugees in crackdown on migrants’, UN News Centre, (4 March 2005), at <http://www.un.org/apps/news>(accessed 14 April 2005); UNHCR, ‘East Asia and the Pacific’, in UNHCR Global Report 2003, (Geneva, 2003), pp. 366–387. Also see UNHCR individual Country Operations Plan for each of the countries in Southeast Asia, Planning Year 2004 (Geneva: UNHCR, 2004).

5 See John G. Stoessinger, The Refugee and the World Community, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1956); Claudia Skran, Refugees in Inter-war Europe: The Emergence of a Regime, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995); Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics.

6 Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics; International Protection Statement made by Mr Moussali, in the ‘Summary Record of the 391st Meeting Held on 10 October 1985’, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 36th Session, A/AC.96/SR.391; Muntarbhorn, The Status of Refugees in Asia; Astri Suhrke, ‘Who Is a Refugee? The Definition of Beneficiaries Revisited’, in Ong Jin Hui, Chan Kwok Bun and Chew Soon Beng (eds), Crossing Borders: Transmigration in Asia Pacific, (Singapore: Prentice Hall, 1995); B. S. Chimni, ‘The Geopolitics of Refugee Studies: A View from the South’, Journal of Refugee Studies, 11, 4, (1998), pp. 350–374.

7 The 1951 Convention stated that the term ‘refugee’ shall apply to any person who, ‘As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it’. The Refugee Convention, 1951, Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford University; The Travaux Preparatories Analyzed, with a Commentary by the Late Dr Paul Weis, (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. xiv.

8 UNHCR, ‘Memorandum by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the Report of the Colloquium on Legal Aspects of Refugee Problems Held in April 1965 in Bellagio (Como)’, Italy, (23 September 1965); HCR/RS/31, 16/1/3 GEN, Records of the Central Registry; Archives of the UNHCR for Refugees (hereafter Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11), p. 5.

9 The importance of the bureaucratized state in relation to practising the 1951 Convention refugee status determination procedures is emphasized in a study by Gabrielle Chatelard, ‘Jordan as a Transit Country: Semi-protectionist Immigration Policies and Their Effects on Iraqi Forced Migrants’, New Issues in Refugee Research, (Geneva: UNHCR Policy Research Unit, 2002).

10 United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Official Records of the Third Committee, 21st Session, 1449th Meeting, (6 December 1966), p. 435.

11 Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Philippines to Deputy High Commissioner, Correspondence, (2 July 1956); Folio 578, 671.1 GEN—1951 Convention; Series 1, Classified Subject Files; Fonds UNHCR 11; Minister Permanent Delegate of Japan to the International Organisations to the Deputy High Commissioner, Correspondence, (3 August 1956); Folio 579, 671.1 GEN; Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11.

12 E. Schlatter to United Nations Vientiane, Laos, Correspondence, (28 January 1967); Folio 1692, 671.1 GEN; Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11.

13 UNGA, Official Records of the Third Committee, 21st Session, 1447th Meeting, (5 December 1967), p. 420.

14 W. K. McCoy to UNHCR, Geneva, Malaysia—Attitude to Convention, (15 March 1969), Folio 1829, 671.1 GEN; Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11; W. K. McCoy to UNHCR, Geneva, Singapore—Attitude to Convention, (24 March 1969); Folio 1831, 671.1 GEN; Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11.

15 Southeast Asian states are members of the Asian–African Legal Consultative Committee (AALCC), which established a Collection of Principles Concerning the Treatment of Refugees in 1966 (also referred to as the ‘Bangkok Principles’), containing a refugee definition and standard of treatment for such individuals. However, the Principles accept the overarching sovereign right of the state to decide when to grant asylum and thus refugee status, despite being quite progressive in agreeing to a broad refugee definition, right of asylum and state accountability for the cause of refugee flows. However, the Principles relating to the treatment of refugees are in no way binding, nor have been influential in terms of being invoked by Southeast Asian states to create a collective ‘action towards refugees’. Muntarbhorn, The Status of Refugees in Asia, pp. 45–47.

16 Peter A. Poole, The Vietnamese in Thailand: A Historical Perspective, (London: Cornell University Press, 1970).

17 Poole, The Vietnamese in Thailand, p. 41.

18 Poole, The Vietnamese in Thailand, pp. 44–45; See also Nayan Chanda, Brother Enemy: The War after the War, (New York: Collier, 1986); Louis Weisner, Victims and Survivors: Displaced Persons and Other War Victims in Vietnam, 1964–1975, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1988); Grant Evans and Kevin Rowley, Red Brotherhood at War: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos since 1975, 2nd edn, (London: Verso, 1990).

19 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 12.

20 Poole, The Vietnamese in Thailand, p. 63; Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 15.

21 Asian Regional Section to UNHCR Geneva, ‘Outgoing Cable’, (2 September 1975); Folio 11, 671.1 GEN; Series 1, Fonds UNHCR 11, p. 4.

22 Andreas W. Daum, Lloyd C. Gardner and Wilfried Mausbach (eds), America, the Vietnam War, and the World: Comparative and International Perspectives, (Washington: German Historical Institute; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003).

23 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, pp. 13, 17–19; Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, p. 190.

24 E. Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, ‘Mid-Annual Review of the Implementation of Programme of Work for 1975’, (17 September 1975); 671.1 GEN; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11.

25 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 1 Special Operations’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 26th Session, A/AC.96/516/Add.1, (15 September 1975), p. 17.

26 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 1 Special Operations’, p. 17.

27 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 1 Special Operations’, p. 19.

28 E. Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, (17 September 1975), p. 2.

29 N. Bwakira to Director of Protection Division, ‘Mid-Annual Review of the Implementation of Programme of Work for 1975: ASIA’, (13 November 1975); Folio 17, 602.3 ASIA; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11.

30 N. Bwakira to Director of Protection Division, 13 November 1975, p. 4.

31 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 20.

32 ASEAN policy of ‘non-interference’ is a cornerstone of the ASEAN relationship in that states do not interfere in the affairs of other states. The ‘non-interference’ principle relates to ASEAN's primary goal of state consolidation and legitimization. Acknowledging a neighbour's citizen as being a ‘refugee’ would threaten this ASEAN principle, since to declare a person to be a legitimate refugee requires at the same time a declaration that the state of origin treats its people illegitimately; see Amitav Acharya, Constructing a Security Community in Southeast Asia: ASEAN and the Problem of Regional Order, (London: Routledge, 2001); Jurgen Haacke, ASEAN's Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins, Development and Prospects, (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003); Antonio Fortin, ‘The Meaning of “Protection” in the Refugee Definition’, International Journal of Refugee Law, 12, 4, (2001), pp. 548–576; UNHCR Representative for Southeast Asia, ‘Promotion of International Protection in Southeast and East Asia’, (28 June 1974); Folio 97A, 671.1 GEN; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11.

33 E. Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, ‘Mid-Annual Review of the Implementation of Programme of Work for 1975’, (17 September 1975); Folio 48, 671.1 GEN; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11, p. 2.

34 E. Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, p. 2.

35 Robinson, Terms of Refuge; Ivor C. Jackson, The Refugee Concept in Group Situations, (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1999), pp. 316, 319; Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics.

36 UNHCR, 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva: UNHCR, 1951).

37 In all UNHCR documents up until the beginning of 1977, UNHCR refers to the Indochinese as ‘displaced persons’; for example, A/AC.96/516/Add.1, (15 September 1975), described the Indochinese situation as ‘Assistance to Displaced Persons and Uprooted Persons in Indochina’ (emphasis added). There is no reference to the Indochinese as refugees in these documents, and in fact the UNHCR says that its primary duty was to respond to all parties only on ‘purely humanitarian grounds’, p. 9. Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, pp. 190–1, also makes this point about UNHCR's reluctance to acknowledge the Indochinese as bona fide refugees.

38 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 24.

39 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 24.

40 UNGA, ‘Assistance to Displaced Persons and Uprooted Persons in Indochina’, p. 17.

41 E. Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, (17 September 1975); E Soeprapto to Director of Protection Division, ‘Proposed Programme of Protection Work in Asia for 1976’, (23 February 1976); Folio 22, 602.3 ASIA; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11, p. 1.

42 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 2 Assistance to Displaced Persons from Indochina in Thailand’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 26th Session, A/AC.96/516/Add.2, (2 October 1975), p. 2.

43 Jackson, The Refugee in Group Situations, p. 324.

44 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 2 Assistance to Displaced Persons from Indochina in Thailand’, p. 2.

45 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1974–1975 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1976, Addendum 2 Assistance to Displaced Persons from Indochina in Thailand’, p. 2.

46 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 22.

47 Astri Suhrke, ‘Indochinese Refugees: The Impact on First Asylum Countries and Implications for American Policy: A Study Prepared for the Use of the Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States’, (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1980), p. 3.

48 Suhrke, ‘Indochinese Refugees’, p. 3.

49 Summary reports by UNHCR on the boat people for each week through this period show the increasing rejection by Southeast Asian states of boat people arrivals unless the UNHCR guaranteed that the asylum seekers' asylum would be temporary only. UNHCR, ‘Weekly Notes’: File 602.3; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11.

50 Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, p. 192; Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia all emphasize this in UNHCR, ‘Summary Record of the 285th Meeting Held on 5 October 1977’, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 28th Session, A/AC.96/SR.285, (10 October 1977); and ‘Summary Record of the 287th Meeting held on 6 October 1977’, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 28th Session, A/AC.96/SR.287, (17 October 1977).

51 Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, pp. 191–192.

52 Robinson, Terms of Refuge; Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics.

53 UNGA, ‘Report on the Twenty-Eighth Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, High Commissioner's Opening Statement’, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 28th Session, A/AC.96/549 Annex 1, (4 October 1977), p. 4.

54 Jackson, The Refugee Concept in Group Situations, p. 323.

55 A legal positivist position, though, would claim that a person is a refugee if they meet the Convention definition and this is regardless of whether they are determined as such. This implies that the Convention's rules are exogenous to the determination process and depends on a rigid separation of the written law from its political, social and normative context. See Rosalyn Higgins, Problems and Processes: International Law and How We Use It, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994).

56 Jackson, The Refugee Concept in Group Situations, p. 323.

57 UNGA, ‘Note on Asylum’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioners' Programme, Economic and Social Committee, 28th Session, EC/SCP/4, (24 August 1977), p. 3.

58 UNGA, ‘Summary Record of the 285th Meeting held on 5 October 1977’, p. 9.

59 UNGA, ‘Summary Record of the 285th Meeting held on 5 October 1977’.

60 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Twenty-Ninth Session, A/AC.96/553, (9 August 1978), p. xiv.

61 However, UNHCR in its Assistance Activities report for 1977–1978 stated that as the refugee population kept increasing, the cost of resettlement and urgency for places also increased. UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979’.

62 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979’, p. xiv.

63 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979 Addendum 1’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 28th Session, A/AC.96/553/Add.1, (3 October 1978), p. 5.

64 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979 Addendum 1’, p. 4

65 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979 Addendum 1’, p. 4.

66 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979 Addendum 1’, p. 5.

67 The UNHCR documents at the time referred to the ‘trafficking’ of Indochinese refugees. Since then, I am aware that there has been a more precise delineation between the terms ‘trafficking’ and ‘smuggling’ as enclosed in the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, (15 November 2002), and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, (15 November 2000).

68 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1977–1978 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1979 Addendum 1’, p. 4.

69 Valerie O'Connor Sutter, The Indochinese Refugee Dilemma, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1990); Muntarbhorn, The Status of Refugees in Asia; Astri Suhrke, ‘The “High Politics” of Population Movements: Migration, State and Civil Society in Southeast Asia’, in Myron Weiner (ed.), International Migration and Security, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993); Robinson, Terms of Refuge; Stephen Castles, ‘International Migration and the Nation-State in Asia’, in M. A. B. Siddique (ed.), International Migration into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Reginald Appleyard, (Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar, 2001).

70 UNGA, ‘Summary Record of the 295th Meeting Held on 10 October 1978’, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 29th Session, A/AC.96/SR.295, (12 October 1978), p. 10.

71 UNGA, ‘Summary Record of the 295th Meeting Held on 10 October 1978’, p. 10.

72 High Commissioner to Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, US Office of the Assistant Secretary of States, Correspondence, (4 October 1978); Folio 6, 100.THA.GEN—Thailand—General; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11; A/AC.96/SR.295.

73 UNGA, ‘Summary Record of the 295th Meeting Held on 10 October 1978’, p. 3.

74 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1980’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 30th Session, A/AC.96/564, (14 August 1979), p. xv.

75 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, Convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Geneva, 20–21 July 1979, Annex 1, A/34/627, (7 November 1979), p. 11.

76 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 11.

77 The meaning implied in the report was that Southeast Asian states would rely on international support to the point where they would not take on any responsibility to develop assistance projects themselves—which is precisely what occurred.

78 Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, p. 206; Henry Kamm, ‘Geneva Meeting Yields Few Pledges of Aid for Indochinese Refugees’, New York Times, (17 December 1978).

79 High Commissioner to Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, (4 October 1978), p. 2.

80 High Commissioner to Assistant Secretary for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, (4 October 1978), p. 2.

81 The following figures for each country are sourced from UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1980’, pp. 141–179.

82 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1980’, p. 165.

83 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 50.

84 S. Bari to Director of Protection, ‘Weekly Notes for 24 to the 31 May 1979’, (31 May 1979); Folio 101, 602.3 ASIA; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11, p. 2.

85 UNGA, ‘Report on UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programmes and Budget for 1980’, p. 165.

86 The UNHCR never publicly condemned the Thai government for their action. Daniel Unger says that it was because the United States requested that UNHCR did not due to the fact that Thailand was still being relied upon as the first state of asylum for most Indochinese arrivals; and also, as Robinson accounts, because the head of the ICRC delegation based in Bangkok was ordered to leave Thailand upon condemning the Thai government and military. High Commissioner Poul Hartling expressed concern in a letter to Prime Minister Kriangsak, and through the US, France, Australian and Canadian embassies present was able to secure asylum for 1500 before they were also to be forcibly removed. Daniel Unger, ‘Ain't Enough Blanket: International Humanitarian Assistance and Cambodian Political Resistance’, in Stephen John Stedman and Fred Tanner (eds), Refugee Manipulation: War, Politics and the Abuse of Human Suffering, (Washington: Brookings Institution Press, 2003); Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 49.

87 S. Bari to Director of Protection, ‘Weekly Notes for 29 June to the 5 July 1979’, (5 July 1979); Folio 106, 602.3 ASIA; Series 2, Fonds UNHCR 11, p. 2.

88 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 50.

89 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, pp. 45–49.

90 From 15 March to 5 July 1979, each UNHCR Memo ‘Weekly Notes’ reports the chronological escalation of Southeast Asian states' refusal to accept any more Indochinese asylum seekers, and their attempts to prevent the asylum seekers from arriving onshore or crossing land borders. First Indonesia, then Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand all declared there were to be no more admissions of asylum seekers into their territory. Throughout May, each of these countries started to tow unseaworthy boats back into international waters. No ship was allowed to disembark rescued asylum seekers unless UNHCR gave direct resettlement guarantees for each person. All appeals from the UNHCR High Commissioner and the UN Secretary-General to Southeast Asian states to respect the principles of asylum, non-refoulement and duty to rescue those in distress at sea were ignored. By early July, the UNHCR was unable to account for missing boat people in Malaysian and Indonesian waters. ‘Weekly Notes 29 June to 5 July 1979’, pp. 1–2.

91 ‘Weekly Notes 29 June to 5 July 1979’, p. 1.

92 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, Report of the Secretary-General, p. 4.

93 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Southeast Asia, p. 5.

94 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 5, emphasis added.

95 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 5, emphasis added.

96 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 7.

97 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 7.

98 UNGA, ‘Report on the Resettlement of Refugees’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, Thirtieth Session, A/AC.96/568, (28 August 1979), pp. 2–3; UNGA, ‘Report on the UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1980, Observations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 30th Session, A/AC.96/570, (27 September 1979).

99 UNGA, ‘Report on the Resettlement of Refugees’, pp. 2–3.

100 UNGA, ‘Report on the Resettlement of Refugees’, pp. 2–3; UNGA, ‘Report on the UNHCR Assistance Activities in 1978–1979 and Proposed Voluntary Funds Programme and Budget for 1980, Observations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions’.

101 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 6.

102 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 56.

103 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 56.

104 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 57.

105 ‘Report on the Resettlement of Refugees’, Submitted by the High Commissioner, Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, 36th Session, A/AC.96/661, (26 July 1985), p. 4; Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 57.

106 Barry Stein, ‘The Geneva Conferences and the Indochinese Refugee Crisis’, International Migration Review, 13, 4, (1979), p. 722; Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 57.

107 Stein, ‘The Geneva Conferences and the Indochinese Refugee Crisis’, p. 722.

108 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 58; Stein, ‘The Geneva Conferences and the Indochinese Refugee Crisis’, p. 722–723.

109 Stein, ‘The Geneva Conferences and the Indochinese Refugee Crisis’, pp. 722, 723.

110 UNGA, ‘Background Note Dated 9 July 1979 Prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Persons in South-East Asia’, p. 14.

111 In 1980, the UNHCR held a review of international refugee protection in Asia up to 1980 and invited Asian legal expert opinion. The most frequent statement made by the lawyers and ministers from Asian states present was that the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol was not applicable to their experience or developing needs. UNHCR, Round Table of Asian Experts on Current Problems in the International Protection of Refugees and Displaced Persons, (San Remo, Italy, 1980).

112 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 31.

113 Robinson, Terms of Refuge, p. 31.

114 Loescher, The UNHCR and World Politics, p. 208.