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PS/Mr Renton
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Who charter to very ships? Hasan ter
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FROM: CO HUM, HK)
DATE: 16 April 1986
CC Sir W Harding
1..
JIM RENTON
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES: MERCY SHIPS
1.
SEAD
UND
News Dept
MAED
161416
ли нцат
73
grateful for any thoughtson
M. Recon i
questions.
Asfilendusen
Mr Renton will wish to be aware of Hong Kong's expressed intention (on a contingency basis) to refuse entry to Hong Kong waters for a West German ship which has picked up over 300 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea. Hong Kong telno 1085 refers.
Background
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17 APR 1986
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2. Since the exodus of Vietnamese by boat began in 1979, various volunteer groups have operated ships seeking out boat refugees in the South China Sea . The refugees taken on board these "mercy ships" are either guaranteed resettlement by the vessel's flag state or resettled in third countries by UNHCR.
3.
Although it is accepted that the operators of "mercy ships" act with the best of intentions, their activities tend to create more problems than they solve. The main problem is that the publicity given to "mercy ships'" activities encourages
the departure of refugees from Vietnam in boats not equipped for more than the short
voyage to the ship: some of these inevitably perish when the ship leaves, because they fail to rendezvous with it. Refugees who are picked up by "mercy ships" are wherever possible disembarked at the vessel's next port of call, which is
is almost always one of the places in South East Asia already accommodating large numbers of boat
refugees.
or
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