fugees)
1228
UGEES)
ivate notice) he will make rival in Hong motor vessel nese refugees
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right hon. Adjournment reported that Kong had no ese refugees than a week, have arrived, p today. If
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ntirely with the position e Adjourn- ct, I under- 00 refugees bats, adding As my hon. right hon. and Com- Iready dis- especially in ng Kong- of State and er. We are nts and the issioner for Kong Gov. t is desper- ing rapidly
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Hong Kong
24 MAY 1979
Mr. Wrigglesworth: Although the right hon. Gentleman must be aware that right hon, and hon. Members want to see the refugees dealt with in the most sympa- thetic and helpful way, will he also con- sider making representations through the United Nations to ensure that the Vict- namese Government do something about this problem? Will he look into allega- tions that payments are being made to individuals and, indeed, to the Vietnam- ese Government to allow people to come away from that country and become the problem of the Western world in the way that they are at the moment?
Sir I. Gilmour : I agree very much with the hon. Gentleman. I do not know for certain, but my information is that pay- ments are being made. The Vietnamese Government should not be in any doubt of the force of world opinion about their cruel and vicious practice of exporting people whom they do not want. We shall do all in our power to see that other countries also bring pressure to bear, but, as the hon. Gentleman knows, our power of leverage on such a Government is limited.
Mr. Ronald Bell: Will my right hon. Friend take into account that this is a traffic actually organised by the Vict- namese Government and that there may be no solution to the problem, because of the possible magnitude involved, unless at some point they are required to take back people whom they have deliberately exported as part of a financial trans- action?
Sir I. Gilmour: I agree with my hon. and learned Friend that there may not be a solution. It may well be that they should be required to take back these people. On the other hand, there are a large number of them who, if they went back, would be ill-treated. Therefore, that would be at the most only a limited solution to this very serious problem.
Mr. Merlyn Rees: Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the Opposition agree that this major problem is a matter for international agreement and that it is urgent that countries should work together? In terms of this country, do the Government stick by the policy of the previous Administration, that is, that we were prepared to accept for settlement refugees nicked up on the high seas by
2 N 19
¡Vietnamese Refugees)
1230
ships registered in the United Kingdom and not acceptable elsewhere?
Sir I. Gilmour: I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his earlier remarks. I am aware of the commit- ment that was made, and I supported it at the time. But the right hon. Gentle- man will appreciate that the position is now altered. It has got very much worse. The numbers have risen very consider- ably. I hope that the right hon. Gentle- mian will agree that it would be wrong at this stage for us to enter into an abso- lutely open-ended commitment that might involve an enormous number of people. Therefore, as we have not been in power very long. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will concede that it is reason- able that we should be given a little time to consider this very serious problem.
Several Hon. Members rose-
Mr. Speaker: I propose to call two more hon. Members from each side of the House.
Mr. Tapsell: Does my right hon. Friend agree that, although there is every possible cause for sympathy for the Viet- namese refugees, one ugly aspect of this traffic is the commercial middle men who make very large sums of money out of bringing them not only to Hong Kong but to other countries in South-East Asia? Do the Hong Kong Government have the necessary powers to prosecute the captains of these ships and to confiscate the ships? I think that that would make a very prac- tical contribution to ending this trallic.
Sir I. Gilmour: I agree with my hon. Friend that people who traffic in this are on the level of dope traflickers and smug- glers of that kind, but I am far from clear that it is the captains of the vessels who are involved in it. I shall look into this, but I feel that the middle men, whom my hon. Friend rightly criticises, keep rather further away from the scene of the action.
Mr. Alexander W. Lyon: Whatever the evidence of financial gain as a result of this trallic, there is no evidence that any of the people who have left Vietnam did not want to leave and, therefore, they are refugees in a real sense. Although we all recognise that status, there seems to be no scific responsibility on the United Kingdom. If we are to take our share