REPORT BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM
SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
1. The aim of this report by the Joint Committee for Refugees from Vietnam is to describe what has been achieved so far in the reception and settlement of the Vietnamese and to draw attention to the important tasks still to be tackled if the Vietnamese are to settle satisfactorily in our community. The report also puts forward some more general points on the conduct of any future substantial refugee programme.
2.
The quotas of refugees from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand which the government agreed to admit - 1,500 agreed in January 1979 and 10,000 in July 1979 - have now been received. Since April 1975 up until the end of September, 16,536 refugees from Vietnam have in fact been received in the UK. In addition to the quotas the number is made up of 2,950 refugees rescued at sea by British registered vessels and 2,059 so far who have been admitted under family reunion criteria.
3. At the end of September 1982, 344 refugees remained in reception. Although there are many problems associated with finding adequate housing for those still in reception, the agencies estimate that most can be settled and the last centre may close by about the end of the year. This estimate, however, takes no account of future boat rescues whom the UK may admit. We would urge that British ships continue to rescue those in distress and that the UK continue where necessary to admit them and provide the necessary resources for their reception and seitlement.
4. As will be seen from this report, the closure of the last reception centre in no sense constitutes the end of the programme. Indeed the tasks that remain to be tackled before the Vietnamese can be said to be satisfactorily settled are formidable. These tasks include work in the fields of education and language learning, training and employment, personal and family counselling, physical and mental health and specific provision for vulnerable groups such as the elderly, unaccompanied children and young singles. Not least among the remaining tasks is that of enabling refugees to be reunited with other members of their family. This is just one of the fields in which this report will demonstrate the need for a flexible and sympathetic response by HM Government to the particular needs of a new and vulnerable refugee group in British society.
5. In our report we describe in Section 2 our conduct of the programme and from this experience offer in Section 3 suggestions for the organising of any future major refugee programme. In Section 4 we draw attention to the particular needs of the Vietnamese in settlement and put forward proposals for what ought to be done in 1983/84. In Section 5 we summarise our conclusions and recommendations. We make occasional reference throughout our report to a recent study of the Vietnamese refugees in the UK carried out by the Home Office Research and Planning Unit with the co-operation of the agencies.
We welcome such research as a valuable aid in measuring the effectiveness of our conduct of the programme at its various stages and in emphasising the continuing and special needs of the Vietnamese and the efforts which are still required if they are to be settled in the British community.
1.