TNAG-1530-FCO40-2094-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 48

CONFIDENTIAL

23.

Our request to be involved in Honolulu Group discussions was

not, contrary to our expectations, discussed when the Group met

Geneva earlier this month. Most members of the Group have however

reacted positively to our request. We are considering how to take forward our wish to participate in the Group's discussions.

We understand that the Group met M Hocké last month to solicit his

views on the Indo-Chinese "economic migrant problem": no

conclusions were reached, but we understand that M Hocké may be

working on the lines of defining a "third category" between

"refugees" and simple economic migrants. It is not clear to us how

this would help to resolve either the Indo-Chinese problem generally

or Hong Kong's difficulties in particular, but it would be useful to

explore M Hocké's views on these issues.

UNHCR attitude on Hong Kong

24. Since M Hocké became High Commissioner, there are some signs

that UNHCR's attitude towards Hong Kong may have become less positive. It is unlikely that, in the absence of a further UK commitment to resettlement from Hong Kong, UNHCR will continue to commend Hong Kong to resettlement countries as a place meriting special consideration. We shall clearly need to press UNHCR hard to continue to help Hong Kong, regardless of HMG's own decision on UK

resettlement.

25. M Hocké visited Thailand, Japan, China and Hong Kong on 3-17 September. He said (during an otherwise non-committal press conference) that "UNHCR is against closed camps policy full stop", starker comment on Hong Kong's policy than those made by his predecessor. If the issue of closed camps is raised, we must do

can to steer UNHCR away from further unhelpful comments on Hong Kong's refugee policy.

what we

Afghanistan

26. Afghan refugees in Pakistan: 3 million refugees in Pakistan, largest concentration in the world. UK has given £24 million to UNHCR since 1980 for their programme for Afghan refugees (including over £7 million through EC). [ NOT FOR USE: our contribution this year is likely to be £2 million though we cannot yet tell UNHCR). Mr Patten will announce this when he visits Pakistan in November.

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