INDO-CHINA REFUGEES
Supplementary material for incorporation in speech if necessary.
VIETNAMESE BOAT REFUGEES AWAITING RESETTLEMENT
1. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there to be some
70,000. Most are in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand with smaller
numbers in other countries in the region. There are, in addition,
about 140,000 refugees in Thailand who crossed overland from Vietnam
Laos and Cambodia.
REFUGEES FROM INDO-CHINA ADMITTED TO THE UK
2. About 1,400 so far, of whom over 1,000 are Vietnamese. A further
1,500 Vietnamese former boat refugees will be admitted to Britain over
the next 12-15 months (1,000 from Hong Kong and 250 each from Malaysia
and Thailand). This will be in addition to any refugees rescued by
UK-registered ships for whom resettlement places elsewhere cannot be
found.
WILL BRITAIN NOT TAKE MORE?
3. This is a matter primarily for my Rt Hon Friend the Home Secretary.
I am sure he is not unsympathetic, but there is clearly a limit to
the numbers which can be satisfactorily absorbed given our continuing
immigration programme: some 70,000 immigrants and UK passport holders
come into Britain for settlement each year.
HOW WILL THE GOVERNMENT DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM OF LARGE VESSELS, EACH CARRYING THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES?
4.
It is a matter not for one country but for the whole international
The High Commissioner for Refugees will need their full
Britain is playing its part.
community.
support.
15.
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