THE BRITISH REFUGEE COUNCIL
Vice Chairmen:
Chairman: SIR ARTHUR PETERSON, KCB, MVO.
SIR LESLIE KIRKLEY, CBE
KENNETH LEE
Director: MARTIN BARBER, Ph. D.
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Honorary Treasurers:
A. H. CHAPMAN, FCA H. A. SHAW, OBE
The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Howe QCMP Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Foreign and Commonwealth Office Whitehall
London SW1A 2AH
7 February 1986
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The British Refugee Council's Asia Committee has now had a chance to consider fully the Government's White Paper in response to the Home Affairs Committee's Report on Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference to the Vietnamese.
The Committee has asked me to write to you to welcome some of the positive aspects of the Government's report. In particular, the BRC welcomes the expansion of the family reunion criteria which has already enabled some Vietnamese refugees to join their relatives in the UK. The Committee was encouraged to learn from your officials that every effort is now being made to secure further offers of resettlement from other countries having taken this initiative. Despite the fact that Britain's increased intake will be so modest, we wish you every success in this endeavour and would be interested to know what progress has been made in this regard.
The Committee also asked me to express its deep disappointment that the Government failed to agree to the recommendation to abolish the closed camps in Hong Kong. The Select Committee report makes it clear that the policy is intolerable, that UNHCR has condemned it and that even those who introduced it sanctioned it as acceptable only if temporary. The BRC has several times made its view on this issue known and can only repeat that it fully endorses the Select Committee's view that the closed camps are a strain on Britain's humanitarian reputation and urge the Government to reconsider its approach.
Ennds
Lord Ennals
Chairman, Asia Committee
KK 243/3 RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 MAR 1986
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The British Refugee Council incorporates the British Council for Aid to Refugees and the Standing Conference on Refugees