CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—OCT. 12, 1988
102 STAT. 4923
Kong, the Government of Malaysia, the Government of the Philippines, and the Government of Indonesia have difficult national and international security concerns that they must consider; Whereas the emigration and resettlement programs of many Western countries have become increasingly difficult to maintain in the past several years; Whereas the President, the Department of State, and the relevant senior interagency group have recognized the current refugee problem and have taken measures to rectify it; and Whereas the continued movement of refugees out of Southeast Asia is a direct result of the policies and actions of the governments of countries in Indochina, which include the illegal occupation of Cambodia by the Government of Vietnam: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That the Congress— (1) commends the Government of Thailand, the Government of Hong Kong, the Government of Malaysia, the Government of the Philippines, and the Government of Indonesia for their history of humanitarian treatment of refugees; (2) urges the Government of Thailand to reinstitute its humane and generous former policy of first asylum, officially end its policy of interdiction of arriving refugee boats, and take the appropriate steps at the local level to ensure that the policy of first asylum is implemented; (3) urges the United States and other Western nations to maintain their generous policy of resettlement to alleviate the burdens of countries in the region; (4) urges the Government of Hong Kong and the governments of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to maintain their generous policies of first asylum; (5) commends the Government of Hong Kong for agreeing to set up a screening process to identify internationaly acceptable refugees jointly with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees; (6) commends the President for his decision in fiscal year 1988 to increase the overall number of refugees to be admitted to the United States, in the face of an increase in refugees emigrating from the Soviet Union, rather than decreeise the number of refugees from Southeast Asia; (7) commends the President for proposing for fiscal year 1989 a generous admission policy which reflects the special issues involved in refugee policy in Southeast Asia, including the need for a much expanded Orderly Departure Program for refugees wishing to depart from Vietnam and a renewed effort on the part of the United States to alleviate the strain presently felt by first asylum nations in the region; (8) urges the Department of State to continue working with the governments of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Government of Hong Kong, the Government of Australia, the Government of New Zealand, the Government of Canada, and other governments to find ways to meet the security concerns of the governments of the region while responding to the humanitarian needs of Southeast Asian refugees seeking first asylum and resettlement;
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