CONFIDENTIAL RECEIVE
IN
REGISTRY ho. El
21 JUL1975
(240)
Note for the Record:
Vietnamese Refugees
INKKI8/es
Mr Jackson of UNHCR called on me this morning to discuss the refugee situation and to make an appointment for Mr Jaeger, the Director of Assistance of UNHCR, and Mr Rizvi, Sadruddin Aga Khan's personal adviser, to call on me during their visit to Hong Kong from 15 17 July.
2.
Mr Jackson made, the following observations on the possibilities of resettlement, which I list for convenience by country :
Austria
Mr Jackson had been in touch with Mr Peterlik and reckoned the chances of Austria taking up to 100 individuals was good (this may be partly due to the fact that Mr Jackson himself, who is resident in Vienna, has good connections there).
Belgium
40 cases had been put to Brussels on 20 May, but so far there have been no decisions and the news was that there would be none until September. This was unfortunate and Mr Jackson would continue to press the Belgians both through their consulate here and via the UNHCR in Brussels itself. (I spoke to the Acting Belgian Consul- General today who was highly embarrassed by the situation and is pressing for an earlier decision.)
Denmark
288 had been screened and the Danes were likely to take about 100 to 150.
Iran
The Iranians had emphasised, like other developing countries, that they did not want unskilled refugees, but there was a chance of them taking up to 14. (Apparently a lot of refugees had offered to go to Iran with dreams of the oil boom.) Mr Jackson was in touch with the Iranian
Consul-General.
France
The French had taken 283 and were likely to go up to 700. (But the French Consul-General mentioned to me today that France was now having problems with accommodation and might not be convinced that it was right simply to transfer the refugees from one camp in Hong Kong to another camp in France.)
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