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7. Sir Edward Youde said that he believed that the total of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong might fall by April/May to about 9,000 after which the prospect was that it would rise again. It was the trend that was worrying and causing increasing concern in Hong Kong. There was a second area of concern inthat more than half the refugees now in Hong Kong had been there for over 2 years.
8. Mr Hartling said he did his best to discourage resettlement countries from taking only the cream. He mentioned two "personal thoughts" which he would withdraw if Sir Edward Youde preferred. The first was that HMG should consider taking some more refugees. Even small numbers counted. The Americans had absorbed 500,000. The UK figure of 10,000 plus might deserve a fresh look. Secondly, Hong Kong might in the end be able to absorb the last few refugees. A figure of 6,000 or 8,000 was not excessive and many of the long-term refugees were already partly integrated in Hong Kong: they were allowed to work and some had married locals. Sir Edward Youde drew attention to the great contribution which Hong Kong had already made in the resettlement of refugees and migrants. He added that it was not so much a matter of ending the problem by resettling the last few thousand refugees: but of planning how to deal with the problems posed by a continuing flow and the formation of a hard "core":
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9. Sir Edward Youde also paid separate calls on the Directors of Assistance and Protection. Both began by expressing their gratitude to the Hong Kong Government for their generous and efficient treatment of refugees. Mr Zollner's principal comment was that he believed the "hard-core" in Hong Kong could be cleared by a concerted effort. If Hong Kong and the UK were both to accept an additional number for resettlement it would be easier for UNHCR to involve other European countries in the exercise. Sir E Youde again drew attention to the contribution already made by Hong Kong. Mr Moussalli accepted that the tighter definitions of acceptable categories would make · resettlement more difficult. He referred to a conference of UNHCR representatives at present being held in Bangkok to discuss resettlement and a forthcoming Resettlement Conference in Geneva at the end of April or early May and hoped that both would air/Hong Kong problem and bring it to the notice of resettlement countries.
10.
Sir Edward Youde made a final call on Mr Cassella, Chief of the East-Asian Section and his staff. Mr Cassella thought the most worrying feature was that 95% of the refugees now leaving Vietnam were ethnic Vietnamese and were mainly from the North. The young, working-age, single male was almost unplaceable for resettlement and would form the bulk of the hard-core case-loads in first asylum countries.
29 March 1982
Bidamis
C W Long
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