DSR 11C
LETTER FROM JACK ASHLEY MP
The desperate plight of the xxkke 2,700 refugees,
1,000 of them children, on board the Huey Fong just
outside Hong Kong requires your urgent intervention.
I have just returned from Hong Kong and I am convinced
that a new initiative is required from you to tackle
the twin problems of the Huey Fong refugees and the larger
one of the growing exodus of refugees from Vietnam and
nearby countries.
So far as the Huey Fong refugees are concerned, I
hope you will use your good offices to persuade the Hong Kong Government to accept them immediately on a temporary basis beacuse their condition is deteriorating and no
civilised community can leave them stranded at sea
indefinitely. At the same time you should ask all
members of the United Nations to accept an equivalent
number of refugees to those already awaiting resettlement
in Hong Hong.
I hope you can persuade the Hong Kong Government
to act on humanitarian grounds on the following five
conditions:
that the Huey Fong refugees should be given temporary refuge pending their resettlement in other countries;
1.
2. that they should take their place in the queue of the existing 5,000 refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement;
3. that the Hong Kong Government gives clear warning that
this emergency procedure will not be repeated and that in
future it will adhere to the first port of call principle.
This would prevent the abuse of Hong Kong humanitarian
action;
4. that the UN Commission on Refugees be asked to pay the
costs of caring for the Huey Fong refugees when they are
landed in Hong Kong;
/5.
Dd 427265 250M 5/77 905275