TNAG-1417-FCO40-1900-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 151

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UNHCR and the Vietnamese Government. We continue to support the Programme. Rather than undertake new initiatives, we think

it best to work towards improving the scheme, which, we are

satisfied, provides the most effective alternative to departures

by boat. At the 3 October meeting held in Geneva with Vietnamese

Government representatives on the question of the Orderly

Departure Programme, the UK representative, Dame Anne Warburton,

made the following points which may interest the Sub-Committee:

i)

ii)

iii)

iv)

it is regrettable that Vietnamese nationals still feel driven to leave their country;

the increasing measure of cooperation from the

Vietnamese authorities is welcome;

given that the ODP was instituted for humanitarian

reasons, especially to facilitate family reunions,

it is inconsistent that the programme does not allow

the departure of those whose relatives left by boat;

the programme should be extended to include those who are currently, or who have been, in re-education

camps.

Should not the UK and the USA lead an international initiative

to give economic aid to Vietnam in order to help stem the flow

of economic refugees?

(See para 164 of Home Office evidence.)

17 The circumstances which led the Prime Minister to announce

in July 1979 the British Government's decision to cease aid to Vietnam have not significantly changed. The Vietnamese

Government's political and economic policies continue to be

repressive. Over 10,000 Vietnamese are still held without

trial in re-education camps. Vietnam continues to occupy

Cambodia with a force of some 160,000 troops. Our views on

the current Vietnamese regime, which we publicly expressed last

year to the UN Human Rights Commission, are generally shared by

ASEAN and by other Western countries. Moreover, it is strongly

suspected that many of those termed "economic refugees" from

/Vietnam

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