TNAG-1801-FCO40-2561-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-the-UK-1988 — Page 7

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CONFIDENTIAL

C Hum Esq

Hong Kong Department

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

LONDON SW1

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23 August 1988

Dear Mr Hum

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES AND THE ODP

I am writing to draw your attention to recent developments over the Orderly Departure Programme (ODP) for refugees from Vietnam which are both serious in themselves and have considerable implications for your Secretary of State's proposal for additional acceptances from Hong Kong. I am copying this letter to Mr Adams in the South East Asia Department whose assistance we should welcome in this matter and to Mr Flesher in the Immigration and Nationality Department here.

I believe that my colleagues in IND have been in touch with your colleagues in recent months about the ODP departures and the increase that there has been since last autumn in the speed with which the Vietnam authorities have been processing exit visas. Monthly departures for the UK averaged 20 to 30 between October and June 1988 but last month the numbers were as high as 111, while this month they are expected to exceed 50.

The reception centres in the UK used by refugees from Hong Kong and Vietnam are run by voluntary organisations (Refugee Action and Ockenden Venture) and their total capacity is 130 people at any one time. The average length of stay in a reception centre is 3 months. Whilst not all those arriving from Hong Kong or Vietnam choose to use a reception centre the majority from Hong Kong do and an increasing proportion of those from Vietnam need to do so. This is, we understand, because large family groups have recently been arriving under the ODP. These cannot be accommodated by their relatives here and in consequence seek emergency shelter in the reception centres. The impact of large groups on reception centre capacity will be obvious.