Problem of refugees from South-East Asia
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 6 October 1979 (14th Sitting) (see Doc. 4399, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 6 October 1979 (14th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having taken note of the report of its Political Affairs Committee on the problem of refugees from South-East Asia (
Doc. 4399) ;
3. Reaffirming the position taken in its
Resolution 698, of 28 June 1979, in which :
3.1 it expresses its grave concern at the serious situation of refugees in South-East Asia, and the fact that large numbers of persons have left their country of origin in order to seek asylum elsewhere ;
3.2 it deplores the circumstances which have given rise to the movement of a large number of refugees from South-East Asia, and expresses its acute concern at the violations of human rights which continue to take place in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos ;
3.3 it notes, in particular, that these refugees have, in many cases, been refused even temporary asylum, and have been sent back to the high seas, or to their country of origin where they are often exposed to high risks ;
4. Realising that, in the tragic situation in which hundreds of thousands of South-East Asian refugees find themselves, every effort to provide humanitarian help must take priority over all political considerations ;
5. Deeply concerned also by the terrifying magnitude of violations of human rights to which the peoples of Cambodia. Laos and Vietnam are subjected, and which include the genocide of the Khmer people, and a threat to the existence of ethnic, political and social minorities in those three countries ;
6. Considering that the dignity and standing of the individual must not suffer as a result of ideological differences ;
7. Considering that it is not interfering in the internal affairs of states to defend human rights by raising this matter in international circles, promoting co-operation to ensure respect for those rights, and speaking out against serious and repeated violations of those rights wherever they occur :
8. Aware that the peoples of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have suffered greatly from foreign interference, and a succession of murderous wars during the past forty years.
9. Calls on the governments of Council of Europe member states and urges other countries, in pursuance of the resolutions of the Geneva Conference :
a to give the greatest possible amount of humanitarian aid to South-East Asian refugees, both in the reception camps and in the European countries affording them asylum ;
b to take account of their commitment to safeguard human rights and individual freedoms in their political and economic relationships at bilateral and multilateral level with those countries of origin of the refugees that are responsible for serious violations of those rights.
