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BRITISH REFUGEE COUNCIL
Minutes of Asia Committee Meeting on
Wednesday, 24th March 1982
73
29 ATE 102
Present:
Miss Joyce Pearce in the Chair (Ockenden Venture)
Gillian Whittington
John Montagu
Martin Lee
David Ennals
Nancy Muller
Bernard Llewellyn
British Red Cross Christian Aid Christian Outreach Ockenden Venture Ockenden Venture Oxfam
Barbara Bowman
Julia Meiklejohn Peter Shelley
Quaker Peace &
Service Fund Refugee Action Save the Children
Fund
Philip Rudge
WUS
Richard Miles
Wings of Friendship
Elizabeth Philip
YWCA
Martin Barber
BRC
Robert Hood Alan Phillips
BRC
BRC
Observers:
Alyce Rae
FCO
Home Office
See172
Stan Spence Helen Yu
Jack Landau
Hong Kong Government Office (only for atem 3
UNHCR
Apologies received from:
(War on Want), Graeme Jackson (Methodist Church Overseas Division), Clive Stitt, (FCO).
item 3 of agenda)
Maureen Connelly (UKIAS), John Cunnington
1.
Welcome to the BRC
2.
3*
The Chairman welcomed members to the first Asia Committee Meeting of the British Refugee Council. She explained that interim Chairmen of the Regional Committees had been appointed from members of the BRC Executive Committee until it has been decided how to proceed.
Terms of Reference of the Committee
Questionnaires have been sent to member agencies and individuals for their views on the structures and objectives of the Regional Committees. When a consensus has been taken, recommendations will be put to the Executive Council. The present feeling is that the Committee should have a twin focus: to discuss what action the BRC might take on a particular issue, and to provide a forum for the exchange of information and discussion of opinions.
Report on Indo Chinese Refugees
a)
Report on UK
Martin Barber reported on the current situation of the Vietnamese Programme in the UK. The quota from Hong Kong has now been practically filled, except for a few people who will be arriving in the next month or two. There are still about 1,000 people in Reception Centres in this country. The difficulty is to find suitable housing in areas in which the refugees want to live and where there are reasonable prospects for employment. Family Reunions and boat rescues who may still arrive present a problem, because it is not clear what provision will be made for them.
It was reported that there is currently a difficulty in getting the funding
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