TNAG-0878-FCO40-1088-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 95

DSR 11C

LETTER FROM JACK ASHLEY MP

The desperate plight of the xxkke 2,700 refugees,

1,000 of them children, on board the Huey Fong just

outside Hong Kong requires your urgent intervention.

I have just returned from Hong Kong and I am convinced

that a new initiative is required from you to tackle

the twin problems of the Huey Fong refugees and the larger

one of the growing exodus of refugees from Vietnam and

nearby countries.

So far as the Huey Fong refugees are concerned, I

hope you will use your good offices to persuade the Hong Kong Government to accept them immediately on a temporary basis beacuse their condition is deteriorating and no

civilised community can leave them stranded at sea

indefinitely. At the same time you should ask all

members of the United Nations to accept an equivalent

number of refugees to those already awaiting resettlement

in Hong Hong.

I hope you can persuade the Hong Kong Government

to act on humanitarian grounds on the following five

conditions:

that the Huey Fong refugees should be given temporary refuge pending their resettlement in other countries;

1.

2. that they should take their place in the queue of the existing 5,000 refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement;

3. that the Hong Kong Government gives clear warning that

this emergency procedure will not be repeated and that in

future it will adhere to the first port of call principle.

This would prevent the abuse of Hong Kong humanitarian

action;

4. that the UN Commission on Refugees be asked to pay the

costs of caring for the Huey Fong refugees when they are

landed in Hong Kong;

/5.

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