TNAG-0654-FCO40-803-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 40

undertaking

is now being given by Norway, france, Wed-Germany, USA, Algeria, Liberia and Israel. We conside that the U-K-

can do wo less.

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territory for a limited period only. If HMG were to make such a

havevo

proposal/it would be necessary first to specify to which vessels it should apply.

Many ships fly the British flag by virtue of their registration in

dependent territories or some Commonwealth countries and can achieve

"double" registration by a formal procedure with the Register of

Shipping in Cardiff. There are

which fly flags of convenience. we give

agroëd-upon- should apply only to

in addition some British-owned vessels

we profuse

It is submitted that any undertaking those ships which could be said to

have close connections with this country and that on this basis it

should be restricted to vessels which are registered only in the

United Kingdom.

Nature of undertaking

however

It is not suggested that all small boat refugees rescued by British ships should be accepted for permanent settlement in the United Kingdom, but that HMG should agree that if such refugees have not been

resettled by UNHCR within a period to be agreed between the United Kingdom, UNHCR and the country of first asylum (probably no more than 2 months), they would be allowed to come here for the resettlement procedures to be continued. We would however propose to agree that any among their number who express a wish specifically to settle in this country would be allowed to do so, subject to individual

acceptability, as would any who, after reasonable efforts on the part

could not of UNHCR, cannot be resettled in another country. Although we have

not yet consulted UNHCR formally on this point there is reason to

believe that they would be amenable to such a scheme and would be

prepared to meet the costs of travel to the United Kingdom; maintenance of the refugees here pending eventual relocation and their onward 2

journeys to the countries of permanent settlement. Those who are

accepted by other countries would not therefore become a charge on public funds we should however need Treasury authority) in respect of

agreement

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those who would ultimately be accepted for permanent settlement in the

United Kingdom, either because they had been accepted ab initio for

resettlement here or because hopes of final destinations for

resettlement had been extinguished.

3.