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5. Towards the latter end of 1984 BRC accepted that we could give
no undertaking to take a set quota but asked us to look again at
those cases in which we had already refused applications but where
they considered there to exist exceptional and compelling
compassionate circumstances. In advance of SCORRI's report we agreed to this request and Mr Waddington wrote to Lord Ennals on 6 February Since then BRC have resubmitted about 35 cases. The indications
are that BRC are merely putting back to us the original applications
of those refugees with relatives in this country without any effort to
identify those cases with exceptional and compelling compassionate
circumstances.
SCORRI Report
16
6.
The report was published on
18
8 April. It highlighted the
Hong Kong refugee problem and the plight of the Vietnamese refugees
in the closed camps.
7. The first part of the report deals with the position of Vietnamese
refugees in the "open" and "closed" camps in Hong Kong. It makes a
number of recommendations aimed at reducing the size of Hong Kong's
refugee problems and abolishing the closed camps. This would result
in the United Kingdom taking more Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong.
8. The recommendations are being considered but the plight of the
Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is not solely a matter for the
Government of the United Kingdom and we shall of course be consulting
our friends in the international community as well as the interested
parties in this country.
/FCO View