TNAG-1069-FCO40-1319-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1981 — Page 109

Y.M.C.A

Telephone 031-228 1464

SCOTTISH NATIONAL COUNCIL OF YMCAS

Patron

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

The Secretary of State for Scotland,

New St. Andrew's House,

St. James Centre, EDINBURGH.

Sir,

11 RUTLAND STREET EDINBURGH, EH1 2AE

27th August, 1981.

Some 18 months ago, Miss May Campbell, a Scot, and formerly General Secretary of the Penicuik YMCA-YWCA, volunteered for service with Vietnamese Boat People and since then, has been based at the Argyle 4 Refugee Camp, Hong Kong. The highly developed educational programme which is wholly supported by the YMCA and which is considered essential by the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees and the Government of Hong Kong for all those seeking asylum in a third country is very largely the product of Miss Campbell's skill and application. Miss Campbell has now written the attached note and I am instructed by the Executive Committee of the Scottish National Council of YMCAs to place this matter before you.

In the note, Miss Campbell refers to three boys. I have met these children in Argyle 4 Refugee Camp and have witnessed the affection which exists between them and Miss Campbell. However, Miss Campbell is not in a position to become their permanent Hong Kong-based foster mother nor, as somebody vitally concerned with her vocation, can she view their remaining in Argyle 4 Refugee Camp with the other "non-acceptables" as the camp continues to fill and empty. The U.S. Immigration & Naturalisation Service has refused admittance to the United States for these boys on the argument that the Government of Vietnam has not responded to their correspondence. (As an aside, I must say that I did not observe such niceties in 1975 when 120,000 Vietnamese left their homeland on U.S. Aircraft for Guam.) It would, therefore, appear that either the British representative to the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees must consult with his United States counterpart in an effort to have this impasse

Of course, resolved or an alternative country of ultimate asylum must be sought. the boys could always be left in a Refugee Camp in Hong Kong but, as Miss Campbell already points out, this is beginning to have a serious affect upon their lives. Of the two possible alternatives, there would be certain difficulties in following the/..

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