TNAG-0890-FCO40-1100-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 127

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REFUGEES FROM INDOCHINA: INTERNATIONAL ACTION URGED

Since 1975 when Communists assumed power in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, well over three quarters of a million refugees have left the area. In recent months the numbers from Vietnam have increased rapidly as a result of the Vietnamese Government's policy of intimidating and bringing pressure to bear on its ethnic Chinese population. As many as two-thirds of refugees consigned in overloaded and unseaworthy boats from Vietnam are now reckoned to drown. The luckier few are being rescued by passing ships. The tragedy has assumed political significance because of the numbers involved, the burden on countries of initial asylum, the need for more countries to share in the problems of resettlement, and for action to persuade the Vietnamese Government to change a policy which many members of the international community regard as inhumane.

The political ramifications of the problem were underlined on 24 May 1979 when the United Nations Secretary-General, Dr Waldheim, appealed to world governments for urgent action especially in providing more places for permanent resettlement and more financial assistance for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The British Prime Minister,

Mrs Margaret Thatcher, on 31 May proposed a UN Special Conference on the question of Indochinese refugees, and in an immediate expression of readiness to consider the proposal, Dr Waldheim described the situation as having reached "disaster proportions"

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The task of giving refuge has so far fallen on comparatively few countries. Accommodation and reception facilities in territories of South-East Asia especially Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong have reached saturation point. Only 13 other countries have accepted more than 600 refugees for resettlement (including Britain which, despite heavy Commonwealth commitments, has accepted nearly 2,000 and agreed to take over 2,000 more). Hong Kong has so far borne the greatest burden in relation to area and population: 10 June 1979 nearly 52,000 refugees awaited resettlement there. In addition Hong Kong has already given a permanent home to 14,000.

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Well over 200,000 people have arrived in Thailand since 1975, While the initial waves mainly reached Thailand overland from Laos, more are now arriving from Cambodia. According to official statistics, about 90,000 Cambodian refugees were in Thailand's border areas at the beginning of June. UN sources say that 230,000 refugees mainly ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam have reached China. The number seeking refuge overseas from Vietnam in small boats has gradually risen. In 1977 an average of 1,500 a month left Vietnam in such boats, by November 1978 the figure exceeded 21,000, and in May 1979 it reached 50,000. Towards the end of 1978, large numbers began to leave on specially chartered ocean-going ships. Two ships arrived in Hong Kong harbour with a total of more than 6,000 refugees: 2,300 were on the Tung An, which arrived off Manila Bay in the Philippines at the end of November 1978. At the

This paper has been prepared for general briefing purposes. It is not and should not be construed or quoted as an expression of Government policy.