TNAG-0794-FCO40-998-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1978 — Page 107

es

1218

e desperate ble as pos hy this flood atural kind. laysian and

st reason is ly reception to go there.

how many In the past By reception efugees from is inhibition owledge that Vietnamese ever. ral fear that mpathetically by might be time. Each

or believes, frontiers and he West will n away from

need money, 1. The organi- refugee prob- vided mainly igh Commis- w has a staff

critical of the ions agencies. itical of them hot critical of Nations High

. I have seen and. The pro- run and well nse of mission.

thcoming. Commissioner ar to maintain et it. At long hajor contribu-

I

in contributed programme, I it in the House. Femember some ments that we wrong that we But today our one of the best. appear to have n by £1 million A contribution

1219 Vietnamese Refugees

15 DECEMBER 1978

a

of £500,000 was announced in November. I understand that another £500,000 con- tribution was announced at the Geneva conference last week. Our contribution has more than doubled in the past year.

Last week the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called special conference at Geneva to discuss this problem. It was at that conference that our Government announced that they were to increase their contribution. I understand that the Americans also announced that they would absorb 50,000 Vietnamese refugees a year-an increase from the 25,000 that they have taken in the past.

The French, who have been taking 1,000 refugees a month, have slightly in- creased their quota.

The conference considered a proposal to set up special centres on isolated islands in the Pacific where the refugees and displaced persons would be pro- cessed for resettlement in an orderly way within a specific time and against guaran- tees that there would be no residual problem. It was said rather guardedly at the conference that the proposal should be further elaborated and studied by Governments.

For two years I have urged that recep- tion centres of this kind should be set up in the South-East Asian area so that we shall not experience agonised heart searching about the fate of each boat. The Daily Telegraph today reports that another four small boats, carrying 360 refugees, have been towed out to sea.

I am glad to see that Malaysia, under- standably, supports this proposal. But the Americans remain unconvinced. Until they are converted, it is difficult to see that much will happen. I hope that these studies will be pressed actively and that the Americans will change their minds.

There has also been limited progress in persuading other countries to take more refugees. Much of the moral pressure has fallen on Western European countries. I am not sure that that is wise.

Many of the Indo-Chinese refugees are immensely adaptable. But many are not. I do not believe that there is much point in moving large numbers of Vietnamese fishermen or Laotian farming families into the cold and perlexing environment of Beckenham, Birmingham, Beaconsfield or Brussels. I am surprised that no con-

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Vietnamese Refugees

certed effort appears to have been made to find a haven for a large number of refugees in climatically more compatible areas. I am thinking of Southern and Central America where there are still

empty lands and where the climate is

similar to that in Indo-China. I note that the French are introducing a pilot scheme to resettle 500 Laotian farmers in French

Guyana where the climate and conditions are similar to those in Laos. I hope that this experiment will go well and that it will be expanded sharply.

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Meanwhile, 366 (or 367 because child has just been born-who were picked up in the South China sea by the steamer Wellpark" are now established in an old army barracks off Kensington Church Street, half a mile from my home. Today the first group of five families are moving to permanent homes in Peter- borough. Tomorrow 11 refugees are due to arrive in the barracks.

The centre seems to be run admirably under the general direction of the British Council for Aid to Refugees. The British taxpayer is footing most of the Bill through the Department of Health and Social Security and the Home Office. Hun- dreds of local residents have been help- ful. The Inner London Education Autho- rity-another organisation which I do not praise often-has been particularly helpful in providing admirable teaching for the whole range of age groups.

The refugees themselves seem to be adapting quickly to British ways. I under- stand that the only major fight that has occurred in the hostel followed an argu- ment about changing channels on a tele- vision set. But the barracks in Kensing- ton are meant to be only a temporary home. In theory, it will become a youth hostel again at the end of March, for the authorities seem to believe that the majority of the 232 refugees who have applied for resettlement in Australia, Canada or, most often, the United States, will soon be on their way to those coun- tries. I believe that that is an over- optimistic forecast.

Given the number of refugee boats still drifting about in the China seas, I cannot believe that the Americans or the Canadians will give any priority to the Vietnamese who have found a haven in this country. We have rightly said that we will accept here any refugees picked

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