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about either initiative.
As regards arrivals, we did have two months with no arrivals (February and March) but the boats are now coming in quite regularly. Mrs Lasan did write to us about the closed camp policy, but she spoke to me before I received the letter to explain that it was merely formality, which she had to go through before the High Commissioner came to Hong Kong. She did not anticipate any change and was pleasantly surprised when she received a long reply from the Branch.
The arrivals are now predominantly South Vietnamese and, looking at the figures for the past four or five years, it looks as if the increase in North Vietnamese in 1983, was an aberration. However, I have no information as to either the reason for that unusual figure or why the situation has reverted.
As regards resettlement, the SCORRI Report raised some hackles in Hong Kong and, as you know, we are to have an adjournment debate in LegCo on 15 May on the subject of Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong. I will be surprised if it is not very critical of UK. The main resettlement countries are reserving judgment on the SCORRI Report, but there is a feeling that UK will have to do a little more than accept family reunion cases.
As regards the LegCo statement that Hong Kong would take 5,000 of the residual refugees, there is no sensitivity about it. It was a classic case of misreporting, which was very gently corrected the following day.
The High Mrs Lasan has been at Hong Kong Government.
Commissioner will visit Hong Kong next week and pains to avoid having any formal meeting with the
However I have scheduled a meeting between the High Commissioner and Security Branch to give us an opportunity to talk.
There are persistent rumours here that Mrs Lasan will be leaving within the next few months. It is probably fair to say that morale in the Hong Kong Office is quite low and, even in the short time I have been involved, I can see that there are significant personality differences within what is basically quite a small organisation. Never- theless, Mrs Lasan is quite correct about the inexperience of her female staff and I cannot but agree that UNHCR does not realise that Hong Kong has a serious problem which requires experienced UNHCR staff. I would be grateful to be kept informed of any staff changes, in particular of possible candidates to succeed Mrs Lasan.
I am grateful to you, and Brian, for keeping me informed
about these issues.
yours,
Ken
(K.J. Woodhouse),
for Secretary for Security.
CC: Mr. B. Adams, United Kingdom Mission, Geneva.
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