SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret
CONFIDENTIAL
DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
(c) Mandatory repatriation: per capita payments
Secret
Confidential
Restricted
Unclassified
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
There is sufficient provision for per capita
payments for mandatory repatriation in the current
financial year (see paragraph 2-3 above). Our
agreement with the Vietnamese provides for per
capita payments of $620 (£388). On this basis the
sum we have set aside for the current financial year
would cover the non voluntary repatriation of about
3,000 people - an ambitious target. We estimate that
up to 40,000 boat people in Hong Kong will eventually
be screened out as non refugees. We hope that a
substantial number will volunteer to go back (in
which case per capita payments would fall to the
UNHCR). But we must plan on the worst case
assumption that all those screened out will have to
be returned compulsorily by means of a bilateral
programme and that payments of at least $620 per
person will be needed. On that basis, there could be
a requirement, spread over a number of years, for up
to £14 million, although our objective would be to
move away from per capita payments towards more
general assistance to the communities concerned.
would envisage instituting a review of the
We
arrangements during 1990 to consider whether they are
the most cost effective and appropriate way of
resolving the issue.
CONFIDENTIAL