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ALSO BE ABLE TO EVADE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THOSE NOT IDENTIFIED AS
REFUGEES. BUT ALTHOUGH ONE SENIOR UNHCR OFFICIAL HAS HIMSELF PROPOSED SUCH A SCHEME INFORMALLY, UKMIS GENEVA DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT MR HARTLING AND OTHER SENIOR OFFICIALS WOULD BE IN FAVOUR. INDEED, IN 1984 WHEN HONG KONG DETAINED AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS 13 IRANIANS WHO HAD ARRIVED WITH FORGED PASSPORTS, UNHCR REQUESTED THAT THEY SHOULD BE GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS IN HONG KONG BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT BE RETURNED EITHER TO PAKISTAN OR IRAN.
22. ON 15 JANUARY THE HONG KONG EXECUTIVE COUNCIL DISCUSSED THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT'S SCREENING PROPOSALS AND ADVISED THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE IMPLEMENTED AT PRESENT. HOWEVER THEY RECOMMENDED
THAT THE PROPOSALS SHOULD BE KEPT UNDER REVIEW.
B.
23.
OPTIONS DESIGNED TO INCREASE THE RATE OF DEPARTURES
(A) VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION TO VIETNAM
UNHCR CONSIDER VOLUNTARY REPATRIATION TO BE THE MOST DESIRABLE SOLUTION TO REFUGEE PROBLEMS. WE AGREE. NOT SUPRISINGLY, THERE
HAVE BEEN FEW VOLUNTEERS FOR REPATRIATION TO VIETNAM. OF THE 20 WHO HAVE SO FAR APPLIED FROM HONG KONG, 14 HAVE RETURNED TO VIETNAM: THE OTHER SIX APPLICATIONS ARE STILL PENDING. IN RESPONSE TO AN APPROACH FROM MR HARTLING IN SEPTEMBER 1984, THE VIETNAMESE SAID THAT THERE WAS NO REASON WHY VIETNAM SHOULD TAKE BACK VIETNAMESE WHO DID NOT WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION, AND WHO LEFT VIETNAM ALTHOUGH THEY WERE PREPARED TO CONSIDER APPLICATIONS ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS. THIS AUGURS
BADLY FOR ANY LARGE SCALE REPATRIATION TO VIETNAM: AND THERE ARE
NOT IN ANY CASE LIKELY TO BE MANY MORE VOLUNTEERS.
(B)
LOCAL ABSORPTION
UNHCR ALSO FAVOUR SETTLEMENT IN THE COUNTRY OF FIRST ASYLUM. HONG KONG HAS ABSORBED OVER 14000 DISPLACED INDO-CHINESE, MOSTLY FROM VIETNAM, SINCE 1975. HONG KONG'S RELATIVE WEALTH MIGHT BE CITED AS A REASON TO TAKE A GREATER NUMBER OF VIETNAMESE. BUT THE TERRITORY IS ALREADY DENSELY POPULATED: IT HAS HAD TO DEAL
WITH ENORMOUS IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA IN THE SAME PERIOD AND
CHINESE LEGAL IMMIGRANTS STILL NUMBER OVER 27000 A YEAR. THE
PEOPLE OF HONG KONG WOULD BE UNLIKELY TO WELCOME VIETNAMESE IMMIGRATION WHILE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA ARE BEING
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