§ 6. Mr. Flanneryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many refugees from Chile have been admitted to the United Kingdom in the years 1976, 1977 and 1978 respectively.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Brynmor John)The available figures are 568 and 600 Chilean refugees in 1976 and 1977 respectively and 485 refugees from Latin America in 1978.
§ Mr. FlanneryWill my hon. Friend accept my congratulations on the Government's record on Chilean refugees? But we must press the Department on individual cases. In Argentina there are many Chilean refugees as well as Argentinians who are in a desperate plight. It would be more than likely that if the Chileans were sent back to their country they would 606 be tortured and killed. Will my hon. Friend consider the plight of these refugees in Argentina in order to expedite matters?
§ Mr. JohnI am grateful for that tribute to our policy on Chilean refugees. I welcome the opportunity to enlarge upon an answer given by my right hon. Friend in June last year in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Fife, Central (Mr. Hamilton). He indicated that, in addition to Chileans and non-Argentinian nationals in Argentina, applications are considered from Latin Americans in their countries who can show a genuine need for resettlement and who have ties with this country.
§ Mr. StanbrookIs the Minister's definition of "refugee" the same as that applied to Vietnamese refugees or East African Asians? Should not the Government adopt the Convention on the Status of Refugees so that we know the conditions under which people may qualify as refugees?
§ Mr. JohnI confirm that the definition is the same. We have nothing to yield to any country in our observance of that United Nation's convention and the number of refugees that we accept.