1
and other territories in the region.
Apart from these
there are nearly 140,000 in camps in Thailand.
The High
Commissioner needs the assistance of the whole international
community, not just of a few countries, in trying to help them.
M
C
The British Government are playing their part and have encouraged other countries to do likewise. Since 1975, some 1,400
refugees
from Indo China have been accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom. More than 1,000 of these are Vietnamese,
mostly former boat people. The others are Laotians and
Cambodians. My Right Hon Friend the Home Secretary announced in another place, on 17 January, his decision to admit to the United
Kingdom a further 1,500 Vietnamese refugees over the next 12
to 15 months. This decision was taken in response to appeals by the High Commissioner for Refugees and as part of a wider international effort to provide more resettlement places. Apart
from those who may enter the United Kingdom as part of that quota, the Government have made a freely accepted commitment to take ultimate responsibility for all refugees who are rescued
at sea by vessels registered in United Kingdom ports when these
refugees are not accepted for resettlement elsewhere. In addition,
any refugee in South East Asia or elsewhere who has close ties
with the United Kingdom may apply to come here.
Much more attention (especially in the media) has been devoted to
the problems of the "boat people" than to those of the "land
people" in camps in Thailand. But I do not think it can be
denied that the boat refugee problem is certainly a pressing one: as I have said, so many of them are losing their very lives.
/For