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His Excellency
CONFIDENTI AL
24 AUG1976
Sir James Bottomley KCMG United Kingdom Mission
to the United Nations GENEVA
PICK 243/5XX
26/vim
UNS 243/618/1.
20 August 1976
1ST
135
(102
126
UNHCR AND VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
Thank you for your letter of 10 August.
The final version of
1. the High Commissioner's scheme for 'small boat' refugees (received under cover of the letter of 28 July from the Deputy High Commissioner) was passed to the Home Office on 6 August (see Caroline Elmes' letter to MacDowell, copied to Callway). It has also been circulated to interested departments in the FCO.
2. I take your point that there is nothing much the High Commissioner can do to further his scheme until he receives renctions from the governments he has approached. We have urged upon the Home Office the importance of an early response and asked them to be as forthcoming as possible in view of HMG's earlier pressure for an international solution. An important consideration for us is of course the need to do what we can to ease the political burden on Hong Kong. For your information we now understand from the Home Office that they are proposing to recommend to linisters that the UK should express readiness to take up to about 100 refugees under the High Commissioner's scheme. We hope to have a decision within two weeks.
3.
I should be grateful if you would continue to sound out views in informal contacts with the Americans, EEC and others and report reactions. You could say that HMG are considering the UNICR scheme urgently and sympathetically. Until we have reached a decision on admitting refugees it would be premature for us to make any formal démarches. Our impression in any case, subject to correction, is that UNHCR are relatively happy with the response to the problems of the Ava and other recent shiploads and optimistic that if the flow remains at its current level the question of Vietnamese refugees can be tackled in a pragmatic way.
Copied to:- The Governor
Hong Kong
P M Maxey
United Nations Department
Chancery Washington
CONFIDENTTAT,