TNAG-0587-FCO40-720-Aid-from-UK-for-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 74

4.

THAILAND

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a) Letter of 27 July from Mr. Evan Luard, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth

Office

This had been circulated to the Committee. Four points had been raised in the

letter

i) The Foreign and Commonwealth Office agreed that the refugees were a serious problem and wished the voluntary agencies success in their work.

ii) Having contributed £2 million for relief aid to Indo China, HMG could

not respond to the UNHCR's latest appeal.

iii) The question of receiving more refugees from Thailand in the UK had

been referred to the Home Secretary.

iv) HMG tried to encourage other Governments to offer temporary shelter

to Vietnamese refugees escaping in small boats.

Mr. Heidler spoke of the attempts made by refugees from Indochina to escape in small boats. Various ships had picked up over 3,000 refugees (mainly from Vietnam) already in 1976 and tried to disembark them in different ports. It was important that some sort of basic agreement should be reached so that a practical procedure could be followed in future.

An appeal had been made by UNHCR to a number of governments, including Asian countries, to help by taking refugees permanently on the understanding that

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early departure to another country would be arranged by UNHCR

help would be given towards care and maintenance during the

refugees' temporary stay in the country of disembarkment

dossiers would be prepared for each case to be resettled

permanently elsewhere

transport would be arranged and, if necessary, paid for by UNHCR

So far Germany was the only country which had responded definitely to the special appeal, though others had shown interest; and France had an open-ended commitment to accept Indochine se refugees. However, not all wished to settle there, especially the younger ones.

Miss Pearce had had a special report from the Ockenden representative in Hong Kong, who had been in touch with the UNHCR's representative in the Philippines, where Ockenden had been considering how best to help a group of children. The report had shown that any large influx of refugees would put an impossible strain on the local services, which were at the best only basic.

Miss Pearce asked what the general picture was in the Philippines and whether relief aid with health and food programmes would mean that this situation could be changed.

Mr. Heidler explained that the UNHCR s temporary representative in the Philippines had reported on the situation. Only a few hundred refugees had arrived so far; most would only be staying for a short time a small number might settle and would be moving on to France, Canada or USA.

Miss Pearce preferred the plan to settle the Indochine se refugees in Asian countries where the cultural pattern might be roughly similar to their own and suggested that other Governments and also voluntary agencies should help those countries financially so that they could offer opportunities for settlement.

Mr. Heidler agreed with this. Unless new countries could offer asylum in this way, it would mean that the same Governments were always expected to open their doors and this was becoming increasingly difficult.

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