127. We see a need for a clearer distinction between refugees and immigrants, both in the procedures they go through (some of which our recommendations would make more distinct) and in the public perception. We have already noted our greater legal and moral obligation towards refugees.267 One small contribution would be for statistics relating to immigrants and refugees to be separated. We recommend that statistics relating to immigration and those relating to the grant of asylum be clearly separated, if possible in separate documents.
128. Finally, the need for international co-operation and consultation in matters concerning refugees must be stressed, since many of the problems can only be resolved at the international level. Full use should be made for this purpose of international organisations such as UNHCR and the Council of Europe.268 We recommend that the Government promote and participate fully in international co-operation and consultation concerning refugees.
TABLE OF RECOMMENDATIONS
PART 1: VIETNAMESE REGUEES IN HONG KONG
1. Family reunion criteria should be relaxed in respect of Vietnamese in camps in countries of temporary asylum. (Para 17).
2.
(i) Closed camps should be abolished and their inmates transferred to
open camps.
"(ii) If the closed camps are not abolished, the FCO should put on record immediately the circumstances in which it would withdraw its sanction from the closed camps policy. (Para 23).
3. More should be done to prepare the inhabitants of Hong Kong's refugee camps for life after they are resettled, especially through training and upgrading of skills, (Para 25).
4. A considerable degree of ministerial discretion should be retained in the granting of family reunion applications. (Para 35).
5.
(i) Britain's willingness to relax its family reunion criteria for Vietnam- ese in camps in countries of temporary asylum should be used as a bargaining counter to attract offers of additional resettlement places from other countries.
(ii) The aim of such negotiations should be to reduce drastically the size of Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee population and to resettle all those whose stay in camps has been prolonged.
(iii) If necessary, and as part of a burden-sharing agreement, Britain should accept a small share of those who are hard to resettle and have spent years in camps.
(iv) Hong Kong should accept for settlement a proportion of the ethnic
Chinese in its open camps. (Para 39).
267 Para 2 above.
26* Q67.
6. The FCO should make resolution of Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee, problem a major priority in its dealings with foreign governments. (Para 40).
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PART 2: THE VIETNAMESE IN BRITAIN
7. The MSC should amend its information systems so that they identify the Vietnamese as a separate group. (Para 59).
8. A joint working group consisting of Home Office, MSC and refugee agency representatives should be established to assess the type and scale of assistance needed in respect of training and employment and to press for it to be provided. (Para 60).
9. The MSC should expand its provision of skills-linked ESL courses sufficiently to meet the need for them amongst the Vietnamese, and ensure that these courses are of sufficient length to lead to employment or further training. (Para 61).
10. The MSC should considerably increase the number of places on residential skills-linked ESL courses for the Vietnamese. (Para 62).
11. The MSC should be permitted to relax its eligibility criteria in respect of the Vietnamese, particularly for YTS, and should ensure that the intended expansion of the Community Programme enables many more Vietnamese to find employ- ment. (Para 63).
12.
(i) The MSC should provide more business start-up courses with ESL
support in areas with substantial Vietnamese populations.
(ii) The DTI's Small Firms Service should compile a register of interpreters who could be called upon to assist clients not fluent in English, and ensure that the availability of interpreters is made known within the ethnic minority communities. (Para 64).
13. The MSC should produce leaflets in both Cantonese and Vietnamese to explain to the Vietnamese the training and employment services available to them, whether MSC-provided or otherwise. (Para 65).
14. The DES should examine the problem of Vietnamese professionals unable to obtain grants for requalification, with a view to issuing instructions to local authorities or providing central funding on the modest scale necessary, in order that no Vietnamese needing professional requalification is prevented by lack of finance from obtaining it. (Para 66).
15. Section 11 of the Local Government Act 1966 should be amended to enable Section 11 assistance to the Vietnamese. (Para 74).
16. The Home Office should endorse the proposal to create the facilities which attract the Vietnamese in as many cities as possible, identify a number of cities for this purpose, and through its network of contacts make particular efforts to promote the provision of facilities in those cities. (Para 75).
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