TNAG-1426-FCO40-1909-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 120

HRD.

2.34

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

From The Minister of State

Richard Luce MP

Pa

243/5

14 June 1985

15%

HKK 243/5

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

18 JUN 1985

DESK OFFICER INDEX

REGISTRY

Action Taken

John,

PA

✓

(233) referring to

232

Thank you for your letter of 5 June enclosing a letter from your constituent, Mr Anthony Moran of 15 Kenward Road, Poplar Grove, Maidstone, about the problem of the Vietnamese refugees who are at present in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.

At present there are about 11,000 Vietnamese refugees in this predicament. They continue to arrive from Vietnam, though at a much slower rate than when the flow first started in the 1970s. 2,230 arrived in 1984. Since 1975 a total of over 100,000 boat people have travelled to Hong Kong. None have been turned away. All have been given temporary asylum by the Hong Kong authorities, despite the difficulties of accommodating them in such a small, densely populated territory.

At first the refugees were resettled fairly quickly by other countries. Recently, however, it has become much more difficult to find resettlement places for them. As a result many of the refugees in Hong Kong's camps have been there for considerable lengths of time, in some cases up to six years.

As I said when I gave oral evidence to the Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration on 4 February, neither we nor the Hong Kong Government regard it as satisfactory or desirable that refugees should have to remain in camps: our objective must be to find durable solutions for all of them as soon as possible. To this end we maintain regular dialogue with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other resettlement countries. 3,694 refugees were resettled from Hong Kong in 1984. Meanwhile, in co-operation with UNHCR, the Hong Kong Government make every effort to ensure that the refugees' basic needs are provided for while they remain in Hong Kong: they are provided with shelter, food, medical treatment, clothing, education, welfare and training facilities.

Sir John Wells MP House of Commons London SWIA OAA

/The agreement

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