CODE 18-77
CONFIDENTIAL
Mr Chift - Hong Kong Department
VIENAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
Reference
UNS 243/3
mas
سکھوں
тора
107
243/1
Tu 2017
1. I mentioned to you this afternoon at our meeting with the Minister, that Mr Jeaffreson, accompanied by Dame Anne Warburton, had called on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on 6 July. A full record will follow by bag, but Mr Adams has given me the details below, which Mr Jeaffreson will no doubt confirm with you tomorrow. It was agreed that you would take account of Mr Jeaffreson's meeting with UNHCR, before finalising the draft telegram to UKMis Geneva.
2. Mr Hartling said that the international community had accepted the Vietnamese as refugees since the Conference in 1979. He emphasised the principle of non-refoulement should be upheld (and by implication involuntary repatriation should be ruled out). Mr Symington (UNHCR representative in Hong Kong who was also present at the meeting) said that, although UNHCR has reasonably close working relations with the Vietnamese Government, it could be extremely difficult to talk to them about repatriation. Mr Hartling and Mr Jeaffreson agreed that the key to the future resettlement of Vietnamese refugees lies with the UK taking more. Although UNHCR acknowledged the difficulty of obtaining pledges in advance, they thought that possibly as many as 7000 new places might be obtained from other resettlement countries, if Britain could see a way to accepting 1000 new refugees from Hong Kong.
3.
ገ
You may like to know that Immigration and Nationality Department recently confirmed the policy towards admitting Vietnamese to this country with their Minister. This had been raised by me in consultation with HK and other Departments in connection with the UNHCR proposal for refugee rescues at sea. I note also from a recent meeting of the British Refugee Council that the Ockenden Venture (who have been responsible for resettling Vietnamese in this country) recognise the dangers of the 'pull factor' in any new offer to resettle more Vietnamese. I
believe that this is a widely held view amongst refugee organisations and the Home Office alike, and that the only durable solution, although perhaps almost impossible to achieve at present, would be some form of 'safe' repatriation under UNHCR auspices.
ImBot
D J Peate
United Nations Department K. 143
233 8631
7 July 1983
сс
Mr Segar
-
SEAD
Mr B D Adams UKMis Geneva
CONFIDENTIAL
+KK 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
2 1JUL 1983
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Action Taken.