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DSR 11C (Revised 5/87)
commitment to the correct treatment of genuine refugees
would help blunt criticism on that score. It would also
help overcome possible misgivings among UNCHR and in the
United States Government: we have floated our ideas
informally with both and they have reacted cautiously.
We would expect the other main resettlement countries,
Australia and Canada, to express greater understanding.
Once a decision of principle had been taken to introduce
the new policy, we would explain our intentions in
advance to both UNHCR and the main resettlement
countries.
In Confidence
5.
Domestically we would have to expect some criticism
of the new policy. I believe this should be manageable.
The British Refugee Council have indicated to us that
they would understand the introduction of screening in
Hong Kong, although they would hope it could be
accompanied by fresh action to resettle those boat people
already in the territory. The criticism which we would
encounter in Parliament or from human rights groups could
be countered with the arguments that internationally
accepted criteria were being introduced, under UNHCR
supervision, to identify genuine refugees; that the
latter were being given full access to resettlement; and
that arrangements for the eventual repatriation of the
remainder were not fundamentally dissimilar from the
treatment of illegal immigrants world-wide.
6. As I pointed out in my earlier minute, the long-term
effect of the new policy would be to shift the focus of
No comments yet.
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