RESTRICTED
23.
Britain's financial contribution to the costs of Hong Kong's
camps; UNHCR's contribution
Her Majesty's Government contribute in various direct and
indirect ways to the cost of Hong Kong's refugee camps. We
contribute a substantial amount to the funds of UNHCR (£17.6 million
in 1987) for use among refugees. We also donated £16,,000 for 1986/87 to the Save the Children Fund for their work in Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee camps.
We have brought to UNHCR's attention the strong feelings in
Hong Kong about accommodating Vietnamese boat people, and are in
touch with them over the possibility of a longer contribution.
24. The Orderly Departure Programme
The Orderly Departure Programme is an administrative
arrangement to enable people who meet the UK's standard family
reunion criteria under our immigration rules, and who are therefore
entitled to enter the UK, to leave Vietnam. The programme was put
in place in 1979 to facilitate a legitimate channel for departures
from Vietnam for those eligible, and thereby to reduce the pressure for illegal departures. The rate of departure under the programme
is controlled by the Vietnamese authorities and any of those
eligible have already waited years to be permitted to leave. There
is no question of the programme being at the expense of the
resettlement of refugees from Hong Kong.
25.
International conference on Vietnamese refugees
A conference on refugees in Indo China would almost certainly
become diverted to political issues. We believe the best way
forward is through our continuing discussions with the UNHCR and the
main resettlement countries, and through maintaining international
pressure on Vietnam to accept the return of non-refugees subject to
suitable safeguards for their treatment on return.
DECMDTAM DY TN