200179:192/Add.
+
i
11 October 1979
CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 24+3/1
RECEIVED
C. $1
AGENDA ITEM 6 OR ITEM 8: REPORT ON THE RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES (A/AC.96/568)
PACEX
по
Jiz.co
SUPPLEMENTARY HOME OFFICE BRIEF ON THE RECEPTION AND RESETTLEMENT
ARRANGEMENTS FOR INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES AND THE WORK OF THE BRITISH
VOLUNTARY REFUGEE ORGANISATIONS
The reception and resettlement arrangements for the Indo-Chinese refugees are being handled by three voluntary refugee organisatioons, the British Council for Aid to Refugees, the Ockenden Venture and the Save the Children Fund. In view of the increased scale of the
planned refugee influx following the Government's commitment to accept an additional 10,000 refugees from Hong Kong new arrangements are being made for the co-ordination of this programme. A Joint Committee for the Reception and Resettlement of Refugees from Vietnam is being set up. It will consist of a chairman of national standing and members representative of the three voluntary refugee organisations and of the Home Office. There will also be an Advisory Council which will provide a forum in which Government Departments, statutory agencies and other bodies with an active interest in the programme will be kept in touch with its progress and planning.
On arrival in this country refugees spend a period of some three to six months in reception centres. (The precise length of time spent in a reception centre is determined by the availability of permanent housing). In this time they receive intensive tuition in English and are prepared by a wide-ranging educational programme for life in their new country. Reception centres are widely spread around the country. They range in size from the largest with some 600 refugees to others with some 30 to 40 refugees. By October the reception centres will have capacity for some 3,500 refugees.
By early October the "quota" of 1,500 refugees agreed to by the previous administration will virtually all have arrived in this country. During this month it is expected that a further 750 from the "quota" of 10,000 refugees will come here from Hong Kong. At least another 1,000 will arrive over the two months of November and December. It may be possible to take in even more over this period.
The rate of intake of the 10,000 is a matter for discussion between
the Government and the Governor of Hong Kong. (For the delegation's
CONFIDENTIAL
/own
Page 15Page 16