Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
letter
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Type 1 +
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In Confidence
Dr Shirley Summerskill MP Farliamentary Under-Secretary Home Office
To:-
Ms Fatricia Derian
Assistant Secretary for Human Rights
and Humanitarian Affairs
State Department
Washington DC 20520
From
Mr Luard
Telephone No. Ext.
Departinent
At our meeting on 15 February, I promised to report your
request that the UK should consider accepting a small number
of refugees from Indo-China. This is by way of an interim
in touch witho reply to let you know that I have mentioned the metter to
the Home Office.
am
In the meantime, I thought it might be helpful for you
to know that the UK has accepted almost 700 refugees from
Indo-China since mid-1975. This figure includes 173 "boat
refugees". We are, by the way, continuing to accept into the
UK "boat refugees" who have been rescued by British shipping:
in fact, the latest group of 46 Vietnamese "boat refugees"
arrived in the UK on the day following our recent meeting at
your Office. So while we no longer have a quota (which I
appreciate would be helpful for you in your efforts to win
the support of Congress for your longer-term strategy to deal
with the problem), we are, nevertheless, if only in a modest
way, giving some tangible effect to our wish to do something
for the refugees.
A particular aspect of the problem which we in the
United Kingdom have to consider is whether we can do anything
to assist our colony of Hong Kong which has shouldered a
considerable burden in respect of Indo-Chinese refugees.
Over 10,000 people have left Indo-China and settled in
Hong Kong since April, 1975. There are currently 406 "boat
/refugees"
Od 108087 400M S&K 1/77
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