Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret,
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT LETTER
To:-
The Rt Hon Anthony Wedgewood Benn 12 Holland Park Avenue LONDON W11
Type 1 +
From
S OF S
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR 11
Thank you for your recent letter enclosing one from
Mr J K Frampton of 19 Hampstead Road, Brislington,
Bristol, who suggests that the Government's
response to the plight of the Vietnamese "boat people"
might have been inadequate.
As you know, the Government are deeply concerned about
the plight of these boat people. Mr Frampton is right
that the problem is one which calls for concerted
action by governments. For this reason, we are
continuing to do whatever we can, in cooperation with
other countries and with the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to alleviate the
suffering of the refugees. At the end of March,
the number of boat people” requiring offers of
permanent resettlement was 73,064 according to the
UNHCR. The vast majority of them are in refugee
camps in Malysia, Hong Kong, Thailand and several
other territories in the region.
Britain has already accepted some 1,500 refugees from
Indo-China, many of whom were rescued on the high seas
8142000 800M 78 HMSO Bo