Registry
No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
Secret
Confidential.
Restricted
Unclasified.
PRIVACY MARKING
.....In Confidence
DRAFT
Letter
To:-
Brian Cartledge Esq
No. 10 Downing Street.
Type 1 +
From
PS/LPS
Telephone No. Ext.
Department
DSR11
¿
[Flag D]
INDO-CHINA REFUGEES
The Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary and the Lord
Privy Seal have been considering urgently the response we
should make to the suggestion from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees that, as part of the pledging
that Mr Hartling is seeking in advance of an international
conference, Britain should take a further 10,000 refugees.
Mr Hartling has clearly not put forward this figure
lightly; and when Mr Blaker saw him in Geneva he stressed
that a figure of this size was indicative of the burden
that the world would have to shoulder if the existing and
future refugee flood was to be absorbed.
The Lord Privy Seal believes we must act very soon to
declare a sizeable new quota. In the first place, the UNHCR
made clear to Mr Blaker that he aims at completing his
international enquiries within the next few days so that he
can report to the UN Secretary-General by the end of the
month. Secondly, the latest news from New York (UKMIS New
York telegram No 640) suggests that Dr Waldheim may now move
quickly to call a conference If this turns out to be
largely a humanitarian conference, ie concerned with refugee
settlement, it may not achieve all of our desired aim to put
pressure on Vietnam. However, we shall not be in a good
position to speak with authority, nor to persuade other
/governments
Dd 108087 400M 5&K 1/77
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