TNAG-1275-FCO40-1625-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 23

CONFIDENTIAL

Mr Peate (United Nations Department K143)

RASRO

Reference FA 243/21

mes wether

79,

pa. Resettlement.

1 Thank you for your minute of 15 June about UNHCR's new scheme.

2 It looks to me as if we are going to have to reply to Mr Mousalli that while we entirely agree with the aim of the RASRO scheme and see advantages in many parts of it we would not find it possible to participate because it cuts across too many established strands of existing UK policy on the question of ship rescues which we shall not be able to alter in the near future.

3

Obviously we should do our share of ''international burden-sharing as we do elsewhere and if increasing numbers of boat-people are being abandoned at sea it may be awkward to be seen to block a scheme designed to alleviate the problem. But I wonder what evidence Mousalli has that ''thousands'' are ''dying''. Generally the Vietnamese are setting out in better boats with better preparation these days. Besides I am not sure how much the RASRO scheme will improve things. If Greece is reluctant to issue guarantees because of other refugee pressures and so tempts Greek Captains to ignore boat people, the answer may be to use the DISERO scheme as if Greece was a flag of convenience.

4

UK's own interests are fairly well-balanced between the Greek and Canadian positions. We are not a major resettlement state, but while we have a substantial merchant fleet we have not found the numbers rescued over the last two years much of a burden. There are two aspects of the scheme which would be attractive:-

a)

b)

It could insure against the possibility of a massive rescue (say 200 plus) which the Home Office might be reluctant to accept and which would put us in the position of having to refuse a guarantee,

Any move to extend the deadlines of resettlement guarantees would be helpful: it allows more refugees to choose a suitable alternative destination, it allows us more time to prepare, and it lessens the extent to which boat rescues ''jump the queue''.

•

5 However against this there are three major obstacles in current policy:

-

*

a) We accept ship rescues because they have been rescued

by UK shipping. Although the UNHCR paper argues (paragraph 4) that the refugee's ''connection with the flag state is usually even more remote and coincidental'' it is, for us, the fact that they have been rescued by a UK ship that justifies our accepting them in the face of our existing immigration policy. This would be much more difficult to defend once we had broken that link and found ourselves accepting under a quota system those rescued by other Nations'

This is not an easy case to put in Geneva

#KK 243/2 ships.

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

27 JUN 1983

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

CODT 18-77

REGISTRY

PA

Action Taken

CON IDENTIAL

/because