SELECT COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Memorandum by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
FCO WINTER SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE
1.
Two sums of money are involved:
(a)
Accommodation
(b) Repatriation
(A) ACCOMMODATION
£4.5 million
£1.3 million
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 for this expenditure in the Winter Supplementary Estimates, this urgent expenditure was met from savings in other areas of the FCO's existing programme.
ASHAAJ