TNAG-1279-FCO40-1630-Repatriation-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 20

CODE 18.77

Mr Hoare NK&GD

Reference...........

See (32)

36

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK 243/5

8 APR 1983

NO

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG: DRAFT SUBMISSION OF 7 APRIL

1. I have no comments on the draft submission.

•

(32)

2. Paragraph 4 of the first draft telegram refers to the UK's "obligations" incurred at the 1979 Geneva Conference. I do not know to which obligations you are referring, and therefore I cannot confirm the conclusions drawn in this paragraph.

32

3. In paragraph 1 of the second draft telegram (which refers to repatriating boat people to Vietnam and to the possibility of our turning refugee boats away to sea) I think it would be better to refer to humanitarian grounds rather than "human rights grounds". I suggest this on the assumption that you would not wish unnecessarily to draw the attention of other governments to questions of human rights for Vietnamese refugees who flee to Hong Kong. The third sentence of the second draft telegram could therefore be amended to read:-

"We have concluded on humanitarian grounds that neither course could be justified at present."

7 April 1983

7. Runows

F Burrows

Legal Counsellor

CONFIDENTIAL