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Your reference:
R von Arnim Esq
Representative for the United Kingdom
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 36 Westminster Palace Gardens
LONDON
SW1P 1RR
Dear Ruprecht,
-KKC 243/1
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
10 JAN1985
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PA
Action Taken
9 January 1986
I am sorry that I have not been able to reply before now to your letter of 8 October in which you raised, among other things, the possibility of the British Government's meeting the travel costs arising from the Vietnamese family reunion programme, but we wished to consider carefully all the possibilities. We have, of course, spoken about this several times since your letter arrived.
I regret to say that the Government are not able to provide money for this purpose in addition to the already substantial annual contribution which the United Kingdom makes to UNHCR's General Programme Funds. The Overseas Development Administration does not regard these external travel costs as a specific form of development assistance which would be a proper charge on the overseas aid budget; and I understand that the Hong Kong Government is also not in a position to pay. For our part I am afraid that it would not be appropriate for the Immigration Department to fund these costs even if the money were available (which it is not!); and the VSU's funds which are designed to help the integration of Vietnamese in this country are also already committed.
I apologise for this dismal catalogue. On the brighter side, as I think you will know, the Government have been able to set aside £100,000 for the High Commissioner's Special Appeal for resettlement costs for Indo-Chinese refugees. Although this extra money is not intended for international travel expenses, it may help indirectly in so far as assistance in one area enables the organisation to cope better with costs arising in other areas, such as overseas fares
In your letter you mentioned two other related issues. The first concerned the total number of refugees likely to qualify for admission under the relaxed family reunion criteria which the Government announced in the White Paper. We have made it clear that all the identified cases that meet the criteria will be able to come here; and that remains the position. There is no rigid quota. But I think that it is too early to assess the total numbers that will actually come here in the course of the programme. Like you, we will be closely monitoring developments and I suggest we might jointly take stock towards the middle of the year, ie about the half-way point in the programme, when we should have a much better idea of the total numbers.
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