TNAG-0897-FCO40-1107-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 10

CONFIDENTIAL

BRIEF

1

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

SUPPLEMENT: UNHCR ASSISTANCE REPORT

1. During the discussion of the Assistance Report, the UK delegation should question the present and projected levels of UNHCR expenditure on refugees in Hong Kong, making the point that these are likely to be inadequate. In doing so, the delegation should draw, as appropriate, on the following paragraphs.

2. From January to September 1979 direct expenditure by the Hong Kong Government on refugees was US$13 million. Much of this was the result of UNHCR's inability, during most of the period, to accept financial responsibility for basic needs, such as provision of accommodation and care and maintenance, for more than a small proportion of the refugee population in Hong Kong.

3.

Although UNHCR and the Hong Kong Government reached a new agreement on the division of costs in August, this provided only for UNHCR's paying for care and maintenance costs from 1 September 1979 onwards and for the expansion of the capacity of UNHCR camps in Hong Kong to 44,000. Even on the optimistic assumption of no future arrivals and a resettlement rate of 4,000 per month from October, the Hong Kong Government will be spending, in the six months from 1 September, a further US$1.5 million in management costs for refugees not in UNHCR camps. It is hoped that UNHCR will budget to meet these extra costs and will give careful consideration to a plan, shortly to be proposed by the Hong Kong Government, that UNHCR take over another camp.

4. It appears that projected costs referred to in the Assistance Report are based on number of refugees in Hong Kong

CONFIDENTIAL

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