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Hong Kong where opinion would turn hostile to us and our commitment to Hong Kong be called into question. It is quite likely that Unofficial Members of the Executive Council would refuse to be associated with our action.
5.
I therefore recommend that we do not disallow the Ordinance. But the Hong Kong Government should be asked to do all it can alleviate the problem, for example by revoking the legislation as soon as possible or at any rate instituting machinery for regular review. They should also be asked to hurry along the current review of the camp rules and to show them to us in draft before the amendments are introduced.
6. There has already been Parliamentary interest in closed camps; 'Justice' has also expressed concern. We have so far replied that we are studying the closed camp legislation in the light of the relevant international human rights instruments. If the matter came up again we could attempt to demonstrate that Hong Kong's legislation represents at worst a temporary and exceptional devia- tion occurring in unique circumstances of a sort not foreseen by the authors of the Covenant. We could explain that, whilst we regret the necessity for a closed camp system, the camps in Hong Kong are in fact well-run with the co-operation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We could if necessary challenge our critics to offer a better solution to the dilemma facing the Hong Kong Government.
7. Despite this, it is likely that informed international legal opinion would find us in breach of the Covenant. This could undoubtedly inhibit us when we wished to criticise other govern- ments, e.g. in South or Central America or Eastern Europe, for ignoring their international human rights obligations. We would in any case expect to suffer some embarrassment on this account from domestic lobbyists, e.g. 'Justice', in Parliament and perhaps also internationally, for example in discussions at the Human Rights Commission or the General Assembly, or when we have to report to the Human Rights Committee next year on how we are imple- menting our obligations under the Covenant. Nevertheless, I am advised by the United Nations Department that the possibility of the United Kingdom being made the object of a formal complaint by some other government in any international human rights machinery as a result of this breach is so low as to be almost negligible.
New UK Quota
8.
The possibility of the UK taking in further Vietnamese refugees has already been investigated at official level with the Home Office. This followed the Prime Minister's request for proposals on ways in which we might give practical help to Hong Kong. The Home Secretary was consulted by his officials and is firmly opposed to any additional concessions. I do not believe we can make further headway on the idea of a new quota. But it may be worth trying again for a more flexible approach within existing policy such as a relaxation of family reunion criteria and more help on cases of
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