§ Lord ELTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the result of the consideration given to the quota of Indo-Chinese refugees admissible to this country as referred to on 12th December 1977 by Lord Goronwy-Roberts (Hansard col. 1964); what is the present figure at which the quota is set; how much of it has already been taken up; how many of such refugees are refugees from Cambodia; and what other steps 1306WA they are taking or considering to assist with the problems of the large numbers of refugees from Cambodia still not permanently settled.
§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHFollowing an international appeal by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Her Majesty's Government agreed to accept for permanent settlement in the United Kingdom 116 Indo-Chinese small boat refugees. However, before that quota had been fully taken up, there was evidence that several South-East Asian countries were refusing permission to disembark to small boat refugees rescued on the high seas by passing ships; they would only do so if the country of registration of the rescuing vessel gave an undertaking to accept for permanent settlement any such refugees who had not been settled elsewhere within an agreed period. My right honourable friend recently decided the where the rescuing vessel was registered at a port in the United Kingdom such an undertaking would be given where it was required. It is not intended that this commitment should be numerically limited by way of a quota. To date 258 small boat refugees, all Vietnamese, have been accepted for permanent settlement in the United Kingdom.
A total of 153 Cambodians have been accepted as refugees in the United Kingdom; this includes those who were already here at the time of the Communist takeover of Cambodia and those accepted as refugees on the basis of some tie or connection with this country. Such applications will continue to receive sympathetic consideration without regard to numerical limitations. Another form of assistance has been provided by the Government's recently announced contribution of £1 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for his special operations in Thailand and other countries of South East Asia.