Mr Donald
PS/Lord Belstead
Private Secretary
CONFIDENTIAL
HONG KONG : VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
PROBLEM
HKK 243/1
1.
Hong Kong.
To find ways of easing the pressure of refugees in
RECOMMENDATION
2.
I recommend that we instruct UKMis Geneva to ask the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to
approach the Vietnamese authorities to find out whether they
would be prepared to provide formal guarantees for the safety of
returning refugees. I submit a draft telegram.
BACKGROUND
A
B,C
3.
On 5 May, Lord Belstead recommended, and the Secretary of
State subsequently agreed, that our posts in Washington, Paris,
Ottawa and Canberra should be instructed to approach their host
Governments (a) to seek their views on the merits of a joint
approach to the Vietnamese to urge them to step up the Orderly
Departure Programme (ODP) and (b) to ask them to take more
refugees from Hong Kong for resettlement. UKMis Geneva was
instructed to approach the UNHCR to ask them (a) to request the
Vietnamese Government to place greater emphasis on the ODP and
(b) to urge resettlement countries not to reject applicants on
the grounds that they were economic migrants rather than
refugees. (FCO telegram number 125 to UKMis Geneva and 770 to
Washington.)
CONFIDENTIAL