TNAG-1423-FCO40-1906-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 150

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NOTE OF A MEETING HELD IN THE HOME OFFICE ON TUESDAY 22ND JANUARY 1985

Present:

Mr. Waddington

Dr. Jeremy Bray MP

Mr. Graham Bright MP Mr. Handley

Mr. David Howell MP

Mr. Storr

Mr

Stuart Bell MP

Sir Nicholas Bonsor MP

Mr. Russell Johnston MP

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VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

Dr. Bray and his colleagues had asked for the meeting with Mr. Waddington in order to register their concern about current Government policy on the intake of refugees from the camps in Hong Kong.

Dr. Bray said that the fact that 46 MPs and a number of Peers had visited Hong Kong in recent months showed the extent of Parliamentary concern over the problems faced by refugees. The boat refugee population of Hong Kong was the highest of any Asian country. Dr. Bray considered it vital that the international community should address the problem and took the view that if the United Kingdom set an example by taking more refugees from the camps, other countries would follow suit.

Mr. Waddington emphasised that the Government had done a considerable amount in this area. A total of 1700 refugees and boat people had been admitted up to June 1984 and 25 orphans just before Christmas. The Government had not ruled out further action. The British Refugee Council had asked the Home Office to consider admitting the 584 Vietnamese refugees in the camps who had relatives here. The difficulty was that few if any had close relations settled here and a decision to admit them could therefore have consequent effects on other aspects of immigration control. However Mr. Waddington was prepared to consider any urgent compassionate cases that the BRC put forward.

Whilst Sir Nicholas Bonsor accepted that there had been problems with the settlement of Vietnamese refugees in the past he felt that these could be overcome by hand-picking refugees from the camps. Mr. Johnston felt that the number of refugees taken from the camps was a truer indication of the Government's

Te Julp generosity than the number of boat people it took which was a decision which

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was to some extent forced on the Government. The delegation stressed the fact that conditions in the camps were cramped and appalling even allowing for the "humane deterrence" argument. There was however no doubt that those within the camps were well fed and looked after.

Dr. Bray suggested an international conference on refugees and reiterated his view that a generous gesture by the Government would lead to other countries following the example. Mr. Waddington stressed that this raised issues which went beyond his own area of responsibility although he pointed out the alternative argument that any initiative by the Government would be of limited value without a prior commitment from other countries. He emphasised that even though he had not been able to visit the camps he was well aware of the serious problems caused by the large number of refugees in them. He would be considering the current policy in the light of the SCORRI conclusions and would be happy to see the

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