TNAG-1527-FCO40-2091-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 131

You refer in your letter to the Committee's

regret that the Government have not agreed to the

Home Affairs Committee's recommendation that the

closed camps in Hong Kong should be abolished. We have many times made clear that neither we nor the

Hong Kong Government regard the closed camps policy

as a satisfactory or desirable one; it is a temporary measure that we and Hong Kong would wish

to remove as soon as circumstances allow us to do

The Select Committee itself commented that "the

reasons for introducing closed camps are

understandable"; paragraph 13 of the Government's

Reply to their Report sets out, as requested by the

Committee, the circumstances in which we would withdraw our sanction from the closed camps policy,

and makes it clear that the solution is in the hands

of the authorities in Hanoi, and not of those in

London or Hong Kong.

so.

Since repatriation to Vietnam is not a

feasible proposition at present the best way to reduce the need for the camps is to encourage resettlement in third countries. We have been doing

this with some success. In 1985 the number of

refugees in the open and closed camps was reduced in each case by over one thousand despite the

arrival of 1,112 more refugees. If this trend

continues it may be possible to close down the Cape

Collinson Closed Centre (whose population has fallen

to some 350) during 1986; the Hong Kong Government

are monitoring the numbers of arrivals and

departures with a view to making the best possible arrangements for accommodating the refugees given the very limited space available in the territory.

/Finally,