TNAG-0831-FCO40-1039-Commonwealth-Parliamentary-Association-(CPA)-annual-conferen-1979 — Page 66

REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM

IN CONFIDENCE

A

5.12 Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, liong Kong has had to contend with a rising tide of refugees. Some 14,000 former residents of Indo-China, many with family connections in Hong Kong, have been allowed to settle in the Colony. In addition to those who are admitted for permanent resettlement, the Hong Kong Covernment have also traditionally accepted for humanitarian reasons refugees from Vietnam who reach liong Kong in small boats or who are picked up at sea by vessels for which Hong Kong is the next scheduled port of call. Such people are allowed to land temporarily under guarantees from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to take responsibility for arranging their eventual resettlement in other countries. certain number of these have already been accepted into Britain. 5.13 On 146 August, there were 66,894 Vietnamese refugees temporarily

69744 in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement. Accommodation for them in Hong Kong is desperately short. Some 7,000 of the total arrivals came on large vessels (the Huey Fong, Skyluck and Sen On) believed to be engaged in trafficking in refugees for profit. ment have introduced tough new laws designed to deter such traffic-

The long Kong Govern- king. In August, the Captain of the lucy Fong was jailed for 6 years. Three Hong Kong businessmen connected with the uey Fong received seven year sentences, and a number of others also received prison sentences.

5.14 The UK and the liong Kong Governments have appealed for inter- national help in resettling the refugees who have been given temporary refuge in Hong Kong. In pursuit of this objective, the Prime Minister urged the United Nations Secretary General to call an international conference. The conference, held in Geneva from 20 to 21 July, secured promises of more than 250,000 extra resettlement places for the hundreds of thousands of refugees now stranded on the edge of the South China Sea in llong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. In addition, many of the 65 countries attending the conference offered substantial contributions to the funds of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. announced on 18 July that the UK would accept a further 10,000

For their part, HMG refugees, all to be taken from Hong Kong, and made an additional contribution of 25 million towards dealing with the refugee problem in South East Asia over the next 12 months.

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