BACKGROUND
Ships' masters are obliged by international conventions to
render appropriate assistance to mariners in distress. In the
case of boat people from Vietnam this usually means taking
them on board and arranging to land them at the next port of
call. The United Kingdom is not usually the most suitable
place of resettlement. But it has become standard practice
for countries of first asylum (the first port of call) in
the region to insist on a guarantee from the flag state that
they will take any of the boat people whom UNHCR cannot
settle elsewhere, before agreeing to land the refugees. Thus
a high proportion of British ship rescues have been settled in
the United Kingdom. However, boat people seem increasingly
now to set out in better boats and with more skill. Only two
British ships this year have rescued boat people a total of
only 40.
Until our quota of 10,000 boat people from Hong Kong was filled
(last year), those rescued by British shipping were counted
against it. We continue to deal with rescues by UK-registered
shipping on a case-by-case basis treating Hong Kong as any
other country of first asylum. Rescues by Hong Kong registered
shipping (for which like Bermuda, we would expect the territory
to take responsibility) are complicated by the fact that for a
number of reasons Hong Kong is as unsuitable for resettlement
/as
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