A.
/in
2.
Q.
A.
Why is HMG/BE Hanoi not doing anything to speed up numbers of departures?
HMG participates in the annual ODP Conference in Geneva, hosted by UNHCR, and/which the Vietnamese participate. Our Embassy in Hanoi is in regular contact with UNHCR office there and with the appropriate Vietnamese authorities. They do all they can to speed up the numbers of departures and intervene in cases of hard- ship or special concern.
When can UNHCR intervene?
UNHCR in Hanoi can only intervene in cases where a candidate for departure is either very young or very old or in ill-health or severely handicapped physically. Even then UNHCR can only do something if in either of these cases the candidate is totally alone, with no other relatives in Vietnam to care for them. responsible for all ODP candidates and must have strong grounds therefore for intervening in one case but not in another.
UNHCR are
Q.
A.
Q.
A.
What about those in Re-education Camps?
HMG in conjunction with her EC partners has made several demarches on behalf of many types of prisoners held in Re-education Camps. The Vietnamese authorities are however unwilling to speed up the process of releasing detainees. Neither we nor our EC partners, nor UNHCR, have any power to make them do so. A specific inter- vention by HMG on behalf of an individual in a Re-education Camp would be regarded as highly suspicious by the Vietnamese and could seriously damage their chances of release.
Can HMG help when someone has been released from detention?
Once a detainee has been released, he/she must register with a local People's Committee. This is usually in the region from which the detainee comes. The detainee will not be allowed to register for at least one year and must be continually in residence in the locality during the period. (Any activity by the detainee which might be considered by the Vietnamese security authorities as anti-state will prevent registration.) Only after he/she is registered can their application for an exit visa be submitted. This has to be scrutinised by the Ministry of the Interior, often in Hanoi, and can be time consuming. Until at least a year after release therefore, there is nothing which HMG can do to speed former detainees departure from Vietnam.
12.