1363
Indo-China:
[LORDS ]
Refugee Problem
1364 nourished people. But it remains the task of the voluntary agencies to organise and to pay for a substantial proportion of other commodities, such as clothing, tent mats, blankets, and medical facilities. Refugee service, undertaken in the name of the Christian churches, also aims at providing elementary education for child- ren, as well as some rudimentary voca- tional training for young people.
[The Lord Bishop of Rochester.] urgent and tragic subject in your Lord- ships' House tonight. We are extremely grateful to him for his very well-informed and deeply moving speech, as we were for his contribution to the debate last week on the International Year of the Child. Few of us can rival his knowledge or his recent experience of visiting the countries concerned, but none of us can fail to be moved by the desperate situa- tion which he has described to us so vividly tonight. As the noble Lord has made clear, the magnitude of the problem is now such that it is quite beyond the best efforts of the voluntary agencies to deal with it unaided, but it is about their contribution that I shall speak briefly.
In the last 40 years refugee service has been a major commitment of all branches of the Christian Church, not least of those Churches associated to- gether in the World Council of Churches, which in turn work very closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Regufees, as does the Roman Catholic relief organisation. In this country Christian Aid, which is the Churches' own agency for relief work, has recently made an emergency grant to support the Malaysian Red Crescent's work among Vietnamese refugees in that country. This grant, made in response to an appeal by the League of Red Cross Societies, will, it is hoped, assist the recruitment of technical personnel for the medical and general welfare programme.
It will also help to finance a tracing programme in Malaysia set up by the International Committee of the Red
Cross, which is aimed at reuniting families
who have become separated in the course of leaving Vietnam and arriving on the East Coast of Malaysia. This may seem a very small thing to set against the whole horrific situation, but it is by such per- sonal ministry to individuals, deprived not only of their home but of their family ties as well, that some small measure of self-confidence can be restored to desper- ately unhappy people.
In Thailand the Church of Christ in Thailand, a presbyterian body, has been grappling for several years with a steadily escalating refugee problem. It has received help through the United Nations High Commissioner for 'Refugees, especially in the supply of food for seriously under-
In Hong Kong the Christian Council, of which the Anglican Bishop is the chairman this year, has a long history of service to refugees. It is at the moment looking after more than 8,000 Indo- China refugees in transit camps at the same time as it is helping to care for the thousands of refugees who enter Hong Kong every year from China itself. Again, the services offered include training in languages and vocational skills to prepare refugees for resettlement else- where. On the occasion of the Chinese New Year at the end of January the Churches in Hong Kong gave family gift packets of fruit and sweets to Indo- Chinese refugees in the Kai Tak camp as a gesture of sharing in the joy of the New Year celebrations. That is a tiny symbolic act, but one which transcends all differences of nationality, language, and belief.
As I have said, the role of the voluntary agencies cannot but be a limited one now that the number of people involved has assumed such huge proportions. How- ever. I am sure that your Lordships will agree that the maintenance of the kind of
personal ministry, of pastoral care, and, where possible, of practical help to adjust to a new life should be the special responsi- bility of the voluntry agencies in the areas concerned, and that it is the duty of those in other parts of the world, however hard pressed they may feel themselves to be, to continue to assist this work, so much of which is done in their name.
But we must face the fact, my Lords, that the crying need is not for relief, but for resettlement, as the noble Lord has made so clear to us tonight. A letter just received from the Bishop of Hong Kong says:
Our concern is that the nations which can should take concerted action as soon as possible so as to prevent a running sore' appearing in South East Asia ".
We all hope that Her Majesty's Govern- ment will continue to play their part in promoting such concerted action.
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