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3.
any
To maximise the effect of Our decision and Hong
Kong's, we are pressing other resettlement countries to
take additional refugees from Hong Kong, and have received
some 1100 new resettlement places. However, the US, which
resettles more Indo-Chinese refugees than
other
country, is currently accepting refugees at an annual rate
of some 1,800, 200 more than the previous year's ceiling
and has halved its previous annual resettlement rate of
1600 as relatively fewer refugees
Hong Kong meet its
resettlement criteria for refugees.
in
French Position
4.
France has accepted
some 1600 Vietnamese refugees from
Hong Kong since 1975, out of a total intake of 98,700
Indo-Chinese refugees.
France's
record of resettlement
from Hong Kong since. 1984 of 170 refugees is one of the
best
Europe, reflecting its
in
should
historical
facilitate
links with
further
Indo-China. The existence of long-established Indo-Chinese
communities
resettlement from Hong Kong.
5.
in
France
After a series of exchanges ending in Mrs Chalker's
Bariani on 28 April France agreed
meeting in Paris with M.
to accept some of the 135 Francophone refugees to which Mrs
The French have indicated to both
Chalker had referred.
Mrs
The
Chalker and Lady Young that they could resettle perhaps
10 Hong Kong refugees monthly who had undertaken a
programme to provide refugees with a basic comprehension of
the French language and socio-cultural orientation.
programme, which
in
the summer, is organised by
Ecoles sans
Frontières (ESF), a French voluntary agency
specialising in providing education for refugees; we
understand that 50% of the programme's costs
began
would be met
by UNHCR, and that ESF is seeking funding for
the balance.
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