TNAG-0897-FCO40-1107-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 5

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office

242

London SW1A 2AH

August 1979

Dear

I have been asked to thank you for your letter of

to

views have been noted.

/

about refugees from Indo-China. Your

The Government have for some time maintained that the refugee problem demands concerted international action. That is why the Prime Minister called for an international meeting under UN auspices. This took place at Geneva on 20-21 July. In all, 260,000 resettlement places were offered and US$190 million pledged for the use of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This demonstrates the strength of international concern.

Lord Carrington told the meeting that Britain had agreed to accept, as the High Commissioner had requested, a further 10,000 refugees, to be taken from Hong Kong, in addition to the 4,600 whom we had already agreed to accept; and that we proposed to make an additional

£5 million available to help deal with the refugee problem over the next 12 months.

·

The Geneva meeting recognised that if the flow of refugees was to be checked, and further loss of life prevented, countries to which refugees flee must respect the principle of first asylum; and individuals had to have the right to stay in their own country The meeting also secured undertakings from Vietnam to suspend for a time the export of boat people, and to discuss measures for the safe and orderly departure of those of its citizens who wish to leave. This is the first time the Vietnamese Government have acknowledged even implicitly that they control this traffic. Much now depends on how they honour their pledge; the world looks to Vietnam to fulfil its responsibilities as a member of the community of nations.

The Government hope that these developments have given the international community a chance to relieve the pressure on the ASEAN countries and Hong Kong by resettling as many refugees as possible from existing camps.

The Government will continue to pursue policies which take full account of its commitment to strict control of immigration irrespective of any concessions made on humanitarian grounds in favour of refugees.

Yours sincerely

Jeher lossneworth

J Bosomworth

South East Asian Department