TNAG-1273-FCO40-1623-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 90

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RECORD OF CALL ON THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS BY THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES, 14 APRIL 1983, AT 3.30 PM

Mr. Sprith

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SEAD FUND

UN High Commissioner for

Refugees

Present:

The Rt Hon Francis Pym MC MP

Mr Poul Hartling

The Rt Hon Timothy Raison

MP

Mr J E Holmes

Mr D J Peate

concerns.

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Mr G Koulischer

Mr J Landau

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1. Mr Pym welcomed Mr Hartling and asked him about his major

What were his problems in the Middle East, from which he had just returned himself. Mr Hartling replied that he planned to visit the Middle East shortly to persuade Gulf States to share the burden of large numbers of Muslim refugees, including Iranians, Iraqis and Kurds. The Palestinians were of course UNRWA's problem.

2. Mr Pym said that Vietnamese in Hong Kong were the refugees of greatest immediate concern to us. Britain would like to see the exodus from Vietnam stemmed and new opportunities found for resettlement. He hoped a multilateral approach would be possible. Mr Hartling said that, by comparison with other world problems, Hong Kong was not big and the situation had been much worse two years ago. According to UNCHR figures in March, the number of boat people was declining and those leaving with exit permits in an orderly way from Vietnam was increasing. In 1979, Mr Hartling had urged the Vietnamese to allow orderly departures and he thought that the Vietnamese would now see this as an opportunity to improve their image. He could not be sure but hoped that Hong Kong's problems would gradually improve.

3. Mr Hartling said that he had been urging the United States, Australia and Canada to take more from Hong Kong and that he would have more leverage if Britain increased its quota. Noting that Mr Hartling would be discussing the UK quota with the Home Secretary, Mr Raison said that somewhat to our suprise Vietnamese had difficulty in settling in Britain. This might partly have been the result of their dispersal, which had been necessary for housing

reasons.

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4. In answer to Mr Pym's question, Mr Hartling said UNHCR was responsible for 85,000 refugees in camps inside Thailand and had done a lot in Cambodia for those wishing to return there.

He was very concerned that UNCHR should continue its humanitarian role as intermediary between the governments in Bangkok and Phnom Penh on the question of voluntary repatriation of Cambodians.

5. He continued that, from an organisational point of view, UNCHR had coped successfully with the very large numbers of Afghans in Pakistan. UNCHR had begun a useful pilot development project with the World Bank to reforest an area inhabited by Afghan refugees,

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