REONWEALTH OF
#K
• 9 JUN 1982
8 June 1982
REOT
Rt Hon Francis Pym MC MP
00000
cc. ps/ Lord Belstead.
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Downing Street
SW 1
My de Franus
LONDON SWIA OAA
Hkk 34.5/2.
RECEIVID
DESK O
INDEX
NO
PA
LGE
14
1. Ack
2.
HKGD
RY NC. 51
1165
for draft 5/5 reply by 16/6
рбе
ths PS
REGISTRY Action Taken
{4/? / AF14/1
/7
HONG KONG: Deportation of Miss Christine Vertucci
PS/ MiRiphard mir Donacel.
Recently I was approached by a group of my colleagues, Martin Flannery, Bob Parry, Dennis Canavan and Bob MeTaggart, over the recent deportation from Hong Kong of Miss Christine Vertucci, an American lawyer and social worker.
9/16
See (66
I understand that Miss Vertucci had worked in Hong Kong for four years with the Asia Monitor Research Centre, an organization funded by American church groups, and on a voluntary basis had assisted local groups working on homelessness and other social issues. In particular she had researched the incidence of cancers in workers in the electronics industry. She was also co-author of a report to the United Nations on human rights in Hong Kong. Miss Vertucci was deported without explanation being given and the decision was given to her with the minimum possible notice. She appealed against deportation to the then Governor, with support from a great number of social work and church bodies, but the appeal was rejected. Again she was given no explanation for her deportation. I understand that Miss Vertucci then exercised her right to petition your predecesser, who, however, rejected the petition while on his visit to the Middle East.
My colleagues informed me that they had had what they considered a most unsatisfactory meeting on this matter with Lord Belstead and officials. Apparently Lord Belstead was unable to give them any information, and my colleagues inform me that officials appeared to be deliberately obstructive, and that the whole conduct of the meeting fell short of the standards expected in dealing with Members of Parliament. In the circumstances my colleagues have requested a further meeting on the matter with Malcolm Rifkind.
My colleagues emphasized most strongly that Miss Vertucci was a person of repute, being a member of the California bar as well as a qualified social worker, that she worked with organizations of high standing, that she had broken no law, that she was not engaged in political activity, and that there were no allegations against her private life. They concluded that her deportation was caused by the embarassment which her investigations had caused to the authorities and to commercial interests. This view was shared by the Hong Kong Standard, which strongly criticized the deportation. My colleagues also saw this case as a symptom of weaknesses in the Hong
/Kong
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