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Joint Press Statement The Special ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting On Indochinese Refugees
Bangkok, 13 January 1979 |
- At their Special Meeting in Bangkok on 12 - 13 January 1979, the ASEAN Foreign Ministers discussed the problem of refugees and displaced is persons or illegal immigrants from Indochina.
- The ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed their grave concern over the increasing influx of these persons into ASEAN countries. They emphasized that the influx is encountering severe economic, social, political and security problems particularly in the countries bearing the main brunt of the influx, such as Thailand and Malaysia. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers agreed on the urgency of intensifying joint ASEAN efforts to secure more expeditious and increased departure of such people for permanent settlement in Third Countries, as well as to secure a wider range of countries to offer permanent settlement opportunities to these people.
- In this context the ASEAN Foreign Ministers welcomed the efforts of the UNHCR to solve the problem and urged the international community to give more meaningful support to the UNHCR as a following-up to the Consultative Meeting on Refugees and Displaced Person, in Southeast Asia held in Geneva last December. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers urged the international community to recognize the heavy burden borne by ASEAN countries which have been forced by circumstances to become countries of transit.
- They stressed that all measures for the solution of the refugee problem must be based on guarantees that the countries of transit will not be burdened with any residual problem.
- The ASEAN Foreign Ministers emphasized that the continuation of the refugee problem, apart from causing difficulties to ASEAN countries, would seriously affect the stability of the region. Noting that the outflow of people from Indochina has reached alarming proportions, they stressed that the Government of Vietnam, which has pledged to promote regional peace and stability and other countries of origin should take appropriate measures to tackle the problem at the source. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers are convinced that such measures will make an effective contribution towards the solution of the refugee problem, thereby contributing to regional peace and harmony.
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