TNAG-0971-FCO40-1190-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1980 — Page 143

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BY BAG

AKK 243/2

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# 8 MAY 1980 #

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DESK OFFICER

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SEAD FCO

CONFIDENTIAL

Kevin,

FA 243/39

29 APR 1280

DICK G.

INDEX

The

UN ORDERLY DEPARTURE SCHEME

PA

ction Taken

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GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

22 April 1980

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M. for whe M. Litt

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MVD.

KIB

284

38

Tw Birt Lune House Home Office

I am sorry to see from paragraph 4 of John Margetson's letter to you of 27 March that he assumed that we here had no interest in what he recommended on trying to get the orderly departure scheme going. I am afraid it may have been too readily assumed here that our interest in an effective scheme of orderly departures was well known and there may have been reluctance to labour the point. In case there is any doubt the Governor is on record about this in our telno 8 of 2 January which said in part: 'I see every advantage in trying to ensure that the orderly departure scheme works and provides an alternative, safe, means for those who want to leave Vietnam'.

2.

I have not seen your reply to John Margetson's letter but I can follow the drift from his response. Our own view is that (a) we can understand your view that you do not want to offer more places to Vietnam if they are not releasing those you want out, and (b) we are very anxious to see anything possible done to get orderly departures moving for fear that the alternative may be disorderly departures. As seen from here this may mean some concessions from resettlement countries on cases the Vietnamese want out. But that would be far more acceptable ultimately than a return to massive disorderly departures which will put greater pressure on resettlement countries - and us. We have made these points locally to the United States in particular e.g. to Mr Palmieri the Co-ordinator of Refugee Affairs.

3.

As for ourselves, we have already given the local UNHCR office lists of over 100 people whom we would be prepared to accept direct from Vietnam (including, of course, Sammy Maideen's staff). The Embassy in Hanoi have been sent copies of these lists by Immigration Department and we should be grateful for any news from John Margetson of progress on our

as well as those provided to the Vietnamese by other Governments. From our point of view UK involvement in the orderly departure scheme would be strongly to our advantage.

Juss

2874

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