TNAG-0897-FCO40-1107-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 258

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THE "ANNA MAERSK"

1.

Mr Huang of the UNHCR Office in London telephoned

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afternoon,

on instructions from his headquarters in Gene about the Danish registered vessel "Anna Maersk" which has rescued 65 Vietnamese refugees at sea and which is due to arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow morning.

2. Mr Huang said that the Danish Government have already given a resettlement guarantee in respect of the 65 refugees to the Hong Kong authorities and hoped to be able to off-load the refugees in Hong Kong tomorrow. The Danish Government have told the UNHCR that the Hong Kong authorities had asked that the 65 refugees should be removed from Hong Kong to Denmark within two weeks. The Danish Consul-General in Hong Kong is apparently in touch with the Hong Kong authorities and is asking that more time be given for the removal of the refugees to Denmark. The Danish Government had asked the UNHCR to intervene with us in an effort to allow the refugees to remain for longer in Hong Kong.

3. Mr Huang said that most countries in the region accepted guarantees on the basis that refugees would be removed within 90 days. It seemed not unreasonable to the UNHCR that Hong Kong should allow the refugees from the Anna Maersk to remain in Hong Kong for longer than 2 weeks. They could be processed there and some of them perhaps resettled in other countries without the need to move on to Denmark. I took note of Mr Huang's representations and said I would pass details of his call to you and that you would no doubt be in touch with the Hong Kong authorities on this matter. Mr Huang asked for a reply, by telephone, as soon as possible. I promised we would give one but told him that the Hong Kong authorities and the British Government were increasingly concerned that the rate of departures for resettlement from Hong Kong was not keeping pace with the rate of new refugee arrivals and that, in addition, there was a very real physical problem of finding space for more refugees in over-crowded Hong Kong. I added that it was not really surprising, therefore, that Hong Kong should ask for refugees Landed there by merchant vessels to be removed from the territory as quickly as possible.

30 August 1979

CC: Mr Stitt, SEAD

Mr Snoxell, UKMis Geneva

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United Nations Department K149 233 8631

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-You will see that the Embassy in Copenhagen have already on the Danise representations in very cogent terms; given own equivocal position on resettlement guarantees, I do not think we are in much of a position to put pressve

the latest telegram from Copenhagen does the therefore

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