TNAG-1531-FCO40-2095-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1987 — Page 156

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Efficiency Indicators

14.

(a) the cost per head of settling 20,000 fugees in the UK is

of the order of £11,300;

(b) the cost per head of responding to the arrival in Hong Kong of 112,000 asylum seekers, including the integration of 14,500, is of the order of £5,000 per head;

(c) the cost per head to the UK of relief to refugees and

displaced persons in Thailand in 1985 was £4;

(d) UK contribution since 1982 of £3.4 million to UNBRO and

other international and voluntary organisations has helped encourage total contributions of £140.4 million, a gearing of 1:41;

(e) the British Embassy in Bangkok is satisfied that no bilateral aid reaches Khmer Rouge or Vietnamese and monitors UNBRO's operation generally.

CONCLUSIONS

15.

The initial decision to contribute to the international response to the refugee crisis was made quite properly primarily on humanitarian grounds and in response to the UK's commitment to the principles of the UN. It would moreover have been impossible to predict with acccuracy the development of events and their effects on UK interests in the region. As the aid policy developed, however, it became increasingly possible to place alongside the humanitarian objective the other objectives discussed above, and to evaluate these against the level and direction of the aid provided.

16. Although no overall political solution to the Cambodian conflict is in sight, Thailand continues to develop, along with other ASEAN countries, as a force for stability in the region and as a significant trading and investment partner for the UK. Vietnam's expansionism is checked, with a growing opportunity for the Cambodian resistance, backed by a united ASEAN and the West, to keep up the pressure on Vietnam and its clients. Thailand is also continuing its contributions to efforts to find humane solutions to

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