TNAG-1185-FCO40-1487-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-the--1982 — Page 42

CODE 18-77

SS 8/78

Mr Segar SEAD

Reference

HKK 243/

31.2

NO

753/2

GR Coll

REPORT BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM

1. We agreed that SEAD should coordinate the FCO response to this report. Although it deals for the most part with the handling and resettlement of Vietnamese Refugees once they are in this country, on which we can scarcely comment, I believe it might be worth drawing attention to one point emerging from the report.

2.

Paragraph 68 gives comparative figures for resettlements under the Orderly Departure Programme since 1980, when the Home Office tightened criteria for the entry of relations to this country. The UK has the poorest record, in terms of acceptances as a proportion of numbers applied for, of the countries listed. For Hong Kong the consequence of this is that it becomes increasingly difficult to persuade countries to accept refugees for resettlement when the UK's record, in certain areas, compares unfavourably with their own. An improvement in this record would, I believe, be a constructive way of seeking to ease Hong Kong's refugee burden, and any measures to achieve improvement, as proposed in paragraph 65 of the report, would certainly be welcomed by both Hong Kong and us.

T W M Smith

16 December 1982

Hong Kong and General Department WH312 233 3988