STANDING CONFERENCE OF BRITISH ORGANISATIONS FOR AID TO REFUGEES
COPY OF REPLY DATED 3 AUGUST TO MR. EVAN LUARD, FOREIGN & COMMONWEALTH OFFICE
Dear Mr. Luard,
Thank you for your letter of 27 July 1976 the contents of which I am passing on to the Asia Committee.
Although we do appreciate that the financial position makes it difficult for HMG to support the UNHCR's appeal, we hope that this decision may be reversed as soon as possible in view of the very serious situation in Thailand and her great need for aid from the international community.
We are asking the voluntary agencies for details of their projects in Thailand and hope that it will be possible to cooperate in some sort of joint programme. This may take some months to develop but we will keep you informed of progress.
We do also realise the difficulties faced particularly by Hong Kong and we have been glad to hear that in spite of these the authorities have agreed to accept 99 Vietnamese refugees picked up recently by the S.S. Ava.
We hope, however, that HMG will continue to urge the admission of the se refugees by Hong Kong and other countries in the area at any rate temporarily until long term plans can be made for their resettlement.
Thank you for passing on our letter to the Home Secretary. We look forward to hearing from him in due course about the possible acceptance of a limited number of refugees from Thailand into this country.
Thank you very much for your attention to the points raised by our Asia Committee.
Yours sincerely,
(sgn.) Chairman, Asia Committee.
Evan Luard Esq MP
Minister of State
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE London SW1.
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