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probably be in breach of our obligations under
under the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment).
(b) Involuntary repatriation to Vietnam
from
The Hong Kong Government has proposed this on several occasions
since 1982. Their proposals were set out in detail in a paper sent
with Sir P Haddon-Cave's letter of 9 February 1984 to Mr Donald,
then AUSS. (Letter and paper attached). The proposals are based on
the premise that the majority of arrivals are now not true refugees,
and they should therefore be treated in the same way as persons
other countries seeking to enter Hong Kong: new arrivals would be
screened, and those who lacked either proper documentation of
convincing grounds on which to claim asylum would be treated
illegal immigrants and returned to Vietnam. Only those able to
provide convincing grounds on which to claim asylum as refugees
would be granted it. This would be in keeping with Hong Kong's
treatment of illegal immigrants from China, who have been
repatriated since 1980. On the other hand it would be inconsistent
with the understanding reached at the 1979 Geneva Conference.
14
as
15. Option (a) above might be effective as a deterrent, although
boat people continue to arrive in first asylum countries which have
in the past towed refugees back out to sea. However the argument
that led Ministers to decide against it in 1984 remains as strong
today.
16.
14
Option (b) should be a much more effective deterrent to
would-be arrivals than the closed centre policy. If it resulted in
a drastically reduced rate of arrivals, it could allow Hong Kong to
open up the closed centres. It would be popular with Hong Kong's
Chinese population. Its principal drawbacks are:
(a) Likely human rights objections to involuntary repatriation;
unlikely that Vietnamese government would give assurances of humane
treatment.
(b)
Physical difficulty of repatriation to Vietnam.
Repatriation
of Chinese has been facilitated by the land border. For the Vietnamese, planes would be needed. As there are no direct flights
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