TNAG-1069-FCO40-1319-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-in-the-UK-1981 — Page 86

R. D. Clift, Esq.

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9th October, 1981

4.

A better arrangement would be for voluntary agencies in the UK to fund the scheme. We understand from contacts with them by our London office that the Ockenden Venture are most anxious to help to do this for a reasonable number of places, but they now say that they may have difficulty in raising the funds for even a modest programme. This is a matter that needs to be talked through with them. They too are talking now about raising funds in Hong Kong, possibly from the private sector. I am dubious what response they may get.

5. Many local organizations responded magnificently in providing financial and material support in 1980 and 1981 and are still doing so, but they may be reluctant to divert funds which they have secured to assist us to meet our obligations to provide first asylum to assisting a resettle- ment country to meet its obligations.

6. On arrival in UK and assuming a scheme can be developed with the UK agencies there can be no guarantee that such refugees will not eventually become a burden on the state if they fail to find a job but the number of such failures should not be great if the scheme is well run. We might do our part by running and funding language and familiarisation courses here for the refugees before they left so that they would adapt more quickly in the UK and be easier, and cheaper, to assimilate.

Such a combination of voluntary societies in the UK and government action in Hong Kong should, I think, be the essence of the scheme.

7. As for the draft ministerial statement attached to your letter, I wonder if we need it. If we do there are two points about the present draft which I do not like. First, the time frame. Nine months for a study seems an exceptionally long time, particularly if the end result is only a meagre off-take. Second, family reunion, In fact almost all those in Hong Kong who would qualify for family reunion, particularly using the restricted criteria the Home Office apparently wish to apply, have already gone to the UK and been counted against the quota. There are probably only about a further 20 left who would still qualify. Very few new arrivals have relatives in the UK.

8. In any case, I think a better way to tackle the problem would be to arrange a trickle operation on the lines above and then deal with it by an arranged PQ rather than a ministerial statement. The key thing, however, is to get the scheme fixed. How it is announced could be dealt with later.

Ship rescues

9. I am afraid I can see no alternative to seeking a firm arrangement for refugees rescued by British flag vessels. Formally speaking, the present position is that refugees rescued by other flag carriers are landed against a guarantee of UNHCR's best endeavours to have them resettled. But, in practice, we have more or less watertight guarantees from the principal countries concerned that they will resettle those not better qualified for

CONFIDENTIAL