TNAG-1915-FCO40-2719-Hong-Kong-resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-in-third-count-1989 — Page 15

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FM BANGKOK

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELNO 446

OF 040807Z JULY 89

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HKB 243/28

INFO PRIORITY UKMIS GENEVA,

C

TO

Q DIST

INFO ROUTINE KUALA LUMPUR HANOI SINGAPORE MANILA JAKARTA INFO ROUTINE BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN HONG KONG AND WASHINGTON

31.

071243

MDLIAN 3698

YOUR TELNO 296 : VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE : RESETTLEMENT

TECHNICAL MEETING

SUMMARY

1.

GENERALLY SUCCESSFUL MEETING WITH CONSENSUS REACHED ON MOST POINTS. MOST OF OUR OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED, BUT DISAPPOINTING INDICATION U.S. WILL FOCUS ITS RESETTLEMENT OUTSIDE HONG KONG. OVERALL REFUGEE CASELOAD, AT 40,574, LESS THAN ENVISAGED AT ICIR.

DETAIL

2.

AT THE RESETTLEMENT TECHNICAL MEETING IN BANGKOK ON 3 JULY, UNHCR PRODUCED A STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN OF THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEE POPULATION IN THE REGION. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PRE-CUT OFF DATE REFUGEES (40,574) IS CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN THE NUMBER FOR WHICH RESETTLEMENT PLEDGES WERE MADE AT ICIR. THE DIFFERENCE WAS EXPLAINED AS

ARISING FROM RESETTLEMENT THAT HAS OCCURED (OR IS IN THE PROCESS OF OCCURING) SINCE THE END-APRIL FIGURE, USED AT ICIR, WAS COMPILED. SEVENTY-NE PER CENT OF THESE 40,000 PLUS PEOPLE. HAVE SOME SORT OF LINK WITH A RESETTLEMENT COUNTRY. THE REMAINDER (THE QUOTE NON-LINK POPULATION UNQUOTE) HAVE NONE - THEY NUMBER OVER 11,000.

TARGETS FOR SETTLEMENT

3. THERE WAS A CONSENSUS AT THE MEETING THAT RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES WOULD COLLECTIVELY AIM FOR YEAR BY YEAR FORMULA OF 50/35/15. IT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THIS WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR SOME INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES. HOWEVER, ON UNHCR'S FIGURES WE ARE ALREADY WELL ON THE WAY TOWARDS RESETTLING 50 PER CENT OF THE 55,000 CASELOAD IDENTIFIED AT ICIR. WITH SOME 15,000 ALREADY GONE, IT SHOULD NOT BE DIFFICULT TO RESETTLE THE ADDITIONAL 12,000-13,000 NEEDED IN THE FIRST YEAR (TO MID OR END JUNE 1990) TO MEET 50 PER

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