3
7.
Following the Geneva Conference in 1979, there were
two significant changes
(a) The Vietnamese agreed to stop enforced
departures of the ethnic Chinese minority,
and gave an undertaking that "for a reasonable
period of time" they would make every effort
to stop "illegal departures".
(b) 260,000 resettlement places were pledged by
the participating countries.
Nevertheless, the highest number of refugees in Hong Kong (68,695)
was recorded on 11 September 1979. It was only in late September and
October of that year that departures began noticeably to exceed
arrivals, and the number of people in the camps began to fall. In
general, this trend has continued throughout 1980 and 1981.
8.
During this period, it also became clear that Hong Kong
and Macau were receiving, along with the direct boat arrivals from
Vietnam, (and seeking to pass themselves off as genuine refugees),
a number of former Vietnamese refugees who had meanwhile been resettled
in China. Since these people had already been satisfactorily resettled,
they could not be allowed to re-enter the resettlement programme to
the detriment of genuine refugees. In agreement with the Chinese
authorities, we have returned almost 10,000 such cases to China since
1979; we still have just over 3,000 Hong Kong awaiting return in this
way, in addition to nearly 14,000 genuine refugees.
9.
Since the Geneva Conference, there has also been a change
Those arriving
in the nature of the out-flow of refugees from Vietnam.
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