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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's humanitarian action.
4. That the United Nations Commission on Refugees be asked to pay the costs of caring for the Huey Fong refugees when they are landed in Hong Kong.
As regards your fifth condition about making immediate representations to the UN High Commissioner. for Refugees to persuade member countries to speed up their resettlement procedures, I entirely agree that a major effort will be needed to persuade other countries to relieve the burden now being borne by Hong Kong. You will have.
seen from the Home Secretary's announcement on Wednesday that the Government have decided to admit a further 1,500 boat refugees from Vietnam to this country over the next 12-15 months. 1,000 of these will come from those now in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement. We will' certainly do everything we can, both directly and through the UNHCR to persuade others to play their part.
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You also mentioned the need for international action to deal with
the problem of refugees more generally. As you will know, international consultations on Indo-Chinese refugees took place at the initiative of the UNHCR last month.
Evan Luard represented the United Kingdom and reported to the House on 15 December. These talks were useful: some 5,000 additional resettlement places were pledged, and additional financial contributions amounting to US$ 12 million (including $1 million from the United Kingdom) were announced to help the UNHCR cope with the increasing numbers. Further international consultations may well be needed, but I am sure that the initiative should remain with the UNHCR. In fact Mr Hartling called a small informal meeting of certain permanent representatives
/in Geneva
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