E.R.
11 200
4. There are at present about 12,000 Vietnamese in the camps in Hong Kong, divided almost equally between the "open" and "closed" camps. The whole question of the refugees in the camps in Hong Kong was recently considered by the Select Committee on Home Affairs whose report on "Refugees and Asylum, with special reference to the Vietnamese" was published on 18 April.
5. The first part of the report deals with the position of Vietnamese refugees in the "open" and "closed" camps. It makes a number of recommendations aimed at reducing the size of Hong Kong's refugee problem and abolishing the closed camps. This would result in the United Kingdom taking more Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong. The Committee specifically recommended that the family reunion criteria for Vietnamese in camps in countries of temporary asylum should be relaxed. They say that those in the camps who have relatives in the United Kingdom are likely to remain in the camps indefinitely unless they are allowed to join their relatives in this country.
6. We are of course now considering the Committee's recommendations very carefully. Esut, Ais the committee recognises the plight of
the Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is not selely a matter for the Government of the United Kingdom and we shall of course be
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we of Chwichst hope to our colleagues in the international community
Government will be responding fully to the Select Committee's report in due course he of course hope to have the support of the international community
in the and we in the alleviating the plout of the vietnamese refugees who are
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a continuing dialogue with UNHCR and other countries with the aim or finding
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7. I come now to the case of Miss Bui who wishes to be joined by her parents, three brothers and young sister. Miss Bui lives in this country with her sister. They share a council flat with
me of their cousin whose brother is living in the closed camps with their relatives, and who has been granted entry to the United Kingdom to join his brother because of his age. At the time his application was approved we were unaware that he was in fact living with Miss Bui's relatives.
8. It is a sad feature of any major exodus of refugees that families are separated, often by the circumstances of the escape itself. This is particularly true of Vietnamese refugees.
permanent solutions for and of them
The