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The mission had been more difficult than expected beforehand. At first only the 3500 under UNHCR's care were available for selection. Few of these had thought of the UK as a possible place for resettle- ment- most wished to go to USA even if they had been placed in
S Category 4 and had been told that they would not be accepted for years, if at all, and that they should look for opportunities elsewhere.
Sleeping conditions in the camps were very bad but in other respects the refugees had certain material advantages - allowances from the UNHCR to buy their own food, which was not expensive and free access in and out of the camps. Many of the refugees were able to get jobs outside. This comparatively good situation meant that some would be prepared to wait in Hong Kong for a long period and not immediately accept other resettlement opportunities.
It had been difficult to explain what the UK had to offer with- out exaggerating the possibilities. At first there had been only 100 applications, then the Immigration authorities allowed the refugees from the Huey Fong to be released from detention and 617 applied for resettlement in the UK. In the end 415 had been accepted.
Little was also known by the refugees about some other countries from Northern Europe and also Israel, which had sent a selection team. MALAYSIA
In Malaysia the situation was very different; there were somo 54,000 refugees in camps mostly on off-shore islands. UNHCR had already done some pre-selection and had provided names of 560 out of 1,000 who had applied to come to the United Kingdom. It had not been possible to visit all camps, so one large camp with some 30,000 refugees had been selected; 255 were selected from the whole of Malaysia plus 50 others who already had ties with the UK.
In spite of desolate isolated conditions the refugees in the camp visited in Malaysia were well-organised and this had helped &reatly with the selection procedure.
THAILAND
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In Thailand, most of the refugees were Cambodian or Laotian and were not eligible for selection under this scheme. Only one centre for Vietnamese boat people was visited. Great help was given by the UNHCR in the choosing of 250 refugees for UK. Another boat arrived while the team was at the camp.
The total number selected from the three areas was 940 out of the quota of 1500.
In discussion the following points were made:-
Indo-Chinese Refugees in the United Kingdom
a) Some of those selected or recently had already arrived in the UK had been received by BCAR and Ockenden. centre near Wolverhampton to take 70. Thailand.
Ockenden had opened a new SCF had taken a group from
b) Public response had been generous although some letters of criticism had been received. Offers of accommodation were being made by Local Authorities all over the country. Ockenden was dealing with resettlement mainly in the North and Midlands. It was important to settle the refugees into normal circumstances as soon as possible as some Lad been a long time in camps. The whole operation had shown good cooperation between central and local government and the voluntary agencies.
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