TNAG-1275-FCO40-1625-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 50

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United Kingdom Mission

37-39 rue de Vermont 1211 Geneva 20

Telex 22956

Telegrams Prodrome Geneva

Telephone 34 38 00 33 23 85

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Your reference

AR Murray Esq

United Nations Department

eference

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

LONDON SW1

UNS 243/10 Date RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

10 May 1983

19 MAY 1983

Dear Anfrew,

CK OFFICER

REG

PA

REFUGEE INTEGRATION

1.

I enclose a letter of 3 May addressed to the Ambassador by the Director of Assistance at UNHCR together with copies

of its enclosure.

Below.

2. You will see that UNHCR are organising a seminar here from 12 to 15 September and they want two British delegates: one a government official and the other a representative of ▲ Volag. Both should be experts of the problems of integrating refugees in countries of resettlement.

3. We should be grateful for instructions on how to reply. In principle we should take part in sensible UNHCR activity and I think that this seminar is on a very sensible theme. The problems of integrating refugees in their new countries have been insufficiently studied in the past and UNHCR need all the help they can get in this area for the future. In particular I notice that one of the reasons we are now using to explain why we cannot take more Vietnam refugees is that those we have already taken in found it so difficult to settle down. This seminar would provide a good opportunity to emphasise our difficulties in front of an international audience and might thus help to reduce the pressure on us to take more.

4. I suppose the official ought to be somebody from the Home Office, probably Roy MacDowall or one of his juniors or his successor: I believe that it is possible he may be moving on this year. Perhaps you could make suitable enquiries? For this reason I am not copying this letter direct to the Home Office.

5. As for the Volag representative it might be Martin Barber of the British Refugee Council or someone he could recommend if he does not himself feel that he has enough direct experience on the resettlement side.

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Christophe

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C W Long

Home Office

JF Nicholson (213-3209) Vommulany Service- Unit,

Dr Mario Barber Birtise Refings + Commul (582-6922)

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