DOGAR 2
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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
NJ Cox Esq British Embassy
PARIS
Dear Cox,
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
Telephone 01-
233 3988
Your reference
Our reference HKK 243/1
Date 11 March 1986
нкк 243/,
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
1 1 MAR 1986
DESK OFFICER
INDEX
PA
REGISTRY
Action Takan
1.
February to Stephen Nash; I am replying. I enclose,
the Government's Reply to
Thank you for your letter since most of the contents a re for HKD, in response to your request, copies of SCORRI's report and of a background brief, which i s generally still valid. We have ordered copies of the Report, and will send them as soon as they are received.
2.
your
In reply to
point (a), I enclose tables
showing the numbers admitted by various countries from the Hong Kong camps and from the South East Asian region (including Hong Kong), and the numbers still in the camps in Hong Kong and elsewhere.
3.
Your point (b) about training in the Hong Kong refugee camps. You will have received Hong Kong telno 3 about possibility of French language tuition for a group of refugees. To save any false expectations from being raised it would be useful to know what likelihood you believe there is of France's accepting Francophone refugees and when a decision could be expected. The resettlement in France of refugees who already speak French would be a welcome curtain raiser for the later intake of those who completed a language course.
As to education and training in
pp 5-8 of the Government Reply to SCORRI give details of current practice.
wider sense,
4.
Programme
The Orderly Departure Programme (your point (c)) was implemented in 1979. Under the programme, which is managed by UNHCR, Vietnamese may leave Vietnam "legally" in the eyes of the Vietnamese Governement and join family members living in resettlement countries such as the UK. To date, we have taken over 2,000 under the programme. We understand from the Home Office that there are a further 2,000 or so still in the pipeline; visa promise letters have been issued by the Home Office for these, but it is not clear whether they will opt to come
come to the
UK, or whether the Vietnamese authorities will allow them to go.
We have had particular difficul ty
in obtaining ex i t visas for Vietnamese whose relatives left Vietnam by boat, i.e. "illegally"
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