FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Memorandum by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
WINTER SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE
1. Two sums of money are involved:
(a)
Accommodation
£4.5 million
(b) Repatriation : £1.3 million
(A) ACCOMMODATION
2. Since the 1989/90 Supply Estimates were presented to
Parliament, the Government have been faced with additional and inescapable funding requirements as a result of the serious crisis
in Hong Kong caused by the rapid increase in the numbers of
Vietnamese boat people arriving there. There are now some 57,000
boat people in Hong Kong, of whom nearly 33,000 have arrived this
year, at one stage at the rate of over 1,000 per day. This massive influx imposed a severe strain on Hong Kong's capacity to
accommodate new arrivals. As the Committee saw for themselves in
April, all the existing centres for boat people were quickly filled to over capacity and the Hong Kong authorities were obliged to use
ferries and tents as temporary accommodation.
3.
In response to this critical situation in Hong Kong, the
Government concluded that there were strong humanitarian and
political arguments for providing immediate emergency relief to the
Hong Kong Government. As Mr Eggar informed the House in answer to a
written Parliamentary Question on 13 July, in addition to our
contribution to UNHCR's programme for Vietnamese boat people in
Hong Kong, the Government agreed to make a further £4.5 million
available to the Hong Kong Government for emergency accommodation in
the current financial year. Pending Parliamentary approval in the Winter Supplementary Estimates, this urgent expenditure was met from savings in other areas of the FCO's existing programme.
/4.