TNAG-0889-FCO40-1099-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 79

ii)

7.

Conference was surely needed. Mr Heidler said that if held during the next few weeks, the results would be negligible. would be better not to have a conference at all.

It

Mr Heidler wondered whether the British Government thought that all countries which had so far not accepted refugees should be invited to attend. Mr Murray said we would be guided by the Secretary- General but would clearly want to see many more involved than was the case Last December. Turning to the question of the possiblity of giving financial help to countries as an inducement to get them to take refugees, Mr Heidler said this idea had been in the minds of people for quite a long time. The UNHCR's conclusions had been that it could be done for countries where the refugees resettled were not self-supporting but he noted it would be difficult to draw the line. Mr Murray commented that, equally, countries might have the economic and social capacity to absorb the refugees but not afford the initial cost of the resettlement. Mr Heidler asked whether the British Government were aware of the difficulties; it would be extremely difficult to find a uniform criteria which would meet the needs of all member states concerned Some countries might well complain that they were not being paid as much as some others: the UNHCR would be caught in the middle. Mr Murray said that this was certainly an aspect which might have to form part of the preliminary considerations.

Referring to the need for Vietnam to moderate its policies i regulate the outflow of its people, Mr Heidler noted two things:

i)

ii)

It would be necessary to make life more acceptable for people in Vietnam so that they did not have to leave in small boats;

the

to

the outflow would have to be so arranged to enable peop e to Leave safely.

sea.

Mr Murray said that what the free world wanted to see regulated was the pressure by the Vietnamese Government on their unwanted population. One could only deplore the Vietnamese Government's policy of plundering the refugees of their gold in return for perilous voyages at Mr Heidler agreed but wondered how many Governments would be prepared to say that in public and what effect would it have? Mr Murray said these were valid points. But the people leaving must have places to

go to. Mr Heidler quite understood this. He asked whether Mr Murray really

thought that, at the end of the Conference, we would arrive at an agreement which would provide resettlement places for between a quarter and 1 million people. Mr Murray said we must hope so. It had to be our objective. How else would the world handle the present quarter of a million and the rest to follow? Mr Heidler then asked how we thought the present pressures could be reduced on countries in South East Asia, including Hong Kong by political means. Mr Murray said time would be needed for very careful consideration of this matter. Referring to the British Government's view (expressed the day before by Sir James Murray to Mr Hartling) that practical help would be needed for the "unshiftable" surplus in camps, Mr Heidler wondered whether we meant people with no-where to go. Mr Murray said we did. In most refugee situations there were always groups of people who could not be resettled in other countries and this created social and ethnic problems: the impact of Vietnamese refugees on the Islamic inhabitants of the Malaysian coastline was a case in point. Mr Heidler said the same could be said about almost all the countries in the region. He then added that the big question was that, if there were to be an international agreement on

resettlement