TNAG-1527-FCO40-2091-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 150

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RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

10 MAR 1986

DESK OFFICER

INDEX

HEGISTRY

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Action Taken

Mr Trevan (Ur

Mrs Darling-Rogerson UND

CONFIDENTIAL

PIRIRA Lanent

From: A D F Henderson Date: 26 February 1986

CC:

SEAD HKD

(

MR RENTON'S CALL ON THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

1. Mr Renton called on the new UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Hocke, in Geneva on 24 February. Mr Renton drew on the points contained in your brief, wishing Mr Hocke well in his new job.

2. Mr Hocke said that he was deeply concerned about the situation on the Thai/Cambodia border. There were now some 250,000 people acting as a sort of human buffer zone on the border. UNHCR, UMBRO, UNICEF, and the Red Cross had between them spent over £1.7 bn since 1979 in feeding and protecting these people. It was difficult to avoid drawing the conclusion that the humanitarian organisations were being used to avoid starvation while the parties involved made no efforts to reach a political solution. He emphasized that the United Nations was naturally prepared to continue their assistance if it was to buy time to enable the parties to the conflict to negotiate. But there was no sign of this. He felt it

a typical example of the lack of small steps leading

to a major political impasse.

3. Mr Renton said it was difficult to see any lasting improvement in the situation without the agreement of the Soviet Union and China. Unfortunately it seemed to be that the superpowers were using Indo-China almost as a training ground. Even if we sought to put pressure on the Thai government, it was difficult to see what effect this would have.

•

4. Turning to Hong Kong, Mr Renton said that we were very anxious that the momentum of resettlement was maintained. He noted that 1997 was moving ever closer and urged Mr Hocke to do all he could to keep up the pressure on the resettlement countries. Our contribution to the RASRO programme was one example of our efforts to help. Mr Hocke said that he too was deeply concerned at the plight of the Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. UNHCR would be taking a comprehensive look at its own activities during the first half of 1986.

CONFIDENTIAL

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