HMA
CE Leeks Esq (Hong Kong Dept, FCO) Middle East Dept (FCO)
Cc:
N G French Esq
(Brussels)
Reference
MKKK 263/
[RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
27 JAN1986
DESK OFFICER
HIDEX
(+8)
REGISTRY
Action Taken
}
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
1.
There has recently been publicity in the press concerning the arrival in Luxembourg of the first of a total of 50 Bahai refugees from Iran, via Pakistan, for resettlement here. I used this as an excuse to speak to Paul Faber, Director of Protocol, MFA, to probe him on what was happening with regard to the possibility of Luxembourg accepting some Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong.
2.
Paul told me that the Bahais had been accepted at the request of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. No such formal request had yet been received from the UN HCR concerning Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the Luxembourg Government was seized of the problem as a result of your representations and were giving consideration as to what might be done. Paul pointed out that a trickle of Vietnamese were still arriving in Luxembourg for resettlement on the basis of re- unification with families already here. But these were coming almost entirely from Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam itself.
3.
A meeting will shortly be convened of the interested Ministries(Foreign Affairs, Family, Labour) to discuss the Hong Kong question. The local representative of the UN High Commission for Refugees, Mr Kaufmann, will be invited to this meeting. Paul thought that the Luxembourg approach would be positive and that it should be possible following this meeting to initiate a modest programme. He promised that the Embassy would be kept informed.
CODE 18-77
22 January 1986
Фубивии
D F G Farr