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CONFIDENTIAL
DKBY 241100Z
FM HONG KONG 242932Z OCT 79
HICK 243/1
1804
BYLON NAK MC. 51
2 5 OCT 1979
INDE
TO IMMEDIATE FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE TELNO.1487 OF 24 OCTOBER,
INFO UKMIS GENEVA.
YOUR TEL NO.858 (NCT TO UKMIS GENEVA) :
CALL BY DEPUTY UNHCR ON MR BLAKER.
P.A.
1. WE SUGGEST THE FOLLOWING POINTS FOR DE HAAN'S CALL ON THE MINISTER OF STATE ON 29 OCTOBER, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THOSE IN YOUR PARA.2.
A. RATE OF RESETTLEMENT.
2.
AS OF 24 OCTOBER THE NUMBER OF REFUGEES RESETTLED FROM HONG KONG IN 1979 (14,771) WAS 20% OF ARRIVALS (72,961). THIS IS SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN RESETTLEMENT RATES FOR BOAT REFUGEES IN OTHER PLACES OF FIRST ASYLUM, EXCEPT INDONESIA (RESETTLEMENT OF
7,726 TO END SEPTEMBER WAS 15% OF THE 51,704 ARRIVALS IN THE SAME PERIOD - UNHCR FIGURES IN JAKARTA TELNO.330 TO YOU). COMPARED WITH HONG KONG, INDONESIA HAD FEW ARRIVALS BEFORE MAY AND THE RESETTLEMENT RATE HAS RECENTLY BEEN INCREASING MUCH FASTER THAN FROM HONG KONG. THE RAPID RATE OF RESETTLEMENT FROM MALAYSIA, WHERE NUMBERS HAVE BEEN REDUCED FROM 76,500 IN MID-JUNE TO 46,000
ON 8 OCTOBER, LEAVES HONG KONG WITH THE LARGEST BOAT REFUGEE POPULATION IN THE REGION 64,000 MANY OF WHOM HAVE BEEN HERE FOR MORE THAN FIVE MONTHS.
3. OUR PRESENT ESTIMATE IS THAT OF ROUGHLY 20,000 RESETTLEMENT PLACES ON OFFER OUTSIDE THE SIX MAJOR RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMMES (U.S, CANADA, FRG, FRANCE, AUSTRALIA, U.K) ONLY SOME 2,000 ARE LIKELY TO COME TO HONG KONG. FOR SMALLER PROGRAMMES THE ADVICE OF UNHCR IS OFTEN SOUGHT. WHEN HE SPOKE TO REPRESENTATIVES OF RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES FOLLOWING THE GENEVA CONFERENCE, DE HAAN STRESSED THE NEED FOR PLACES TO BE ALLOCATED FAIRLY. WE HOPE
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