O1AOJ
CONFIDENTIAL
UNHCR EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (EXCOM): GENEVA, 6-13 OCTOBER
BRIEF NO 6(h)
Background
General
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
1.
8,500 Vietnamese boat refugees are in Hong Kong
awaiting resettlement, the largest number of any place of
first asylum in South East Asia. They are spending increasingly long periods in Hong Kong because of diminishing resettlement prospects; Hong Kong's rate of
resettlement is the lowest in the region. 648 of the refugees have been there more than 3 years, representing by far the highest proportion of "long-stayers" in the region.
Recent Action by HMG
2.
1985 September
Paper
for
The Government announced in (SCORRI) a White
published in
that HMG will accept
resettlement some 500 Vietnamese refugees, almost all from
who have Hong Kong,
relatives in the
who UK but
would
normally fall outside the Home Office's criteria for family
reunion. Most of the refugees in
in Hong Kong who qualify
have now arrived.
3.
Denmark
To maximise the effect of this decision, we have mounted a diplomatic campaign to press other countries to resettle more refugees from Hong Kong. Many countries, including Australia (200 refugees), Canada (500), (50), Finland (80), the Netherlands (80), New Zealand (20), Norway (about 75) and Sweden (100) have offered a total of
over 1,000 new resettlement places.
CONFIDENTIAL