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BRITISH EMBASSY HELSINKI
27 September 1982
Dear Department
RESETTLEMENT OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
Two years ago we had some fairly active correspondence about the possibility of persuading the Finns to accept more boat refugees.
1.
I took action with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and with the Church here who got in touch with the President of the Finnish Refugee Aid Organisation, Mrs Aune Jääskinen. There was some criticism in the Finnish press that Finland was doing less than her duty and I remember seeing a television investigation into the problem which tended to emphasise the difficulties which the refugees were finding in settling,down in the somewhat harsh conditions of this country.
2. Last month it was announced by the Social Affairs and Health Ministry that Finland had agreed to take more boat refugees following a request by Poul Hartling. The influence of the present Foreign Minister, Par Stenbäck, probably had something to do with this decision as he is personally strongly in favour of a larger Finnish aid programme. As before, the new refugees will be received by the Finnish Red Cross who will take care of them initially and then later they will be turned over to the Ministry. The newspapers reported that Finland has promised to take 25 disabled refugees and their families and that the total this year will be about 100. At the moment Finland has 115 boat refugees. The Red Cross recently told our Consul, Jamieson, that in spite of the initial difficulties in settling down almost all of the refugees now had jobs, mainly in the area around Helsinki. However, other countries - particularly the US had taken the cream and so those who came to Finland tended to be unskilled and could thus only be found employment where a knowledge of Finnish was not really necessary. I attach an article from the Helsingin Sanomat which spells out some of these points in greater detail.
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