3
:
MR. LEON DAVICO, CHIEF OF THE PUBLIC INFORMATION SECTION, UNHCR:
Who would like to start?
the
Do you regard people arriving now
from Vietnam as refugees under the United Nations definition?
1
2
3
JIM BIDDULPH, BBC:
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
MR. HARTLING:
It is a difficult question to answer because we are not screening them or trying to identify their refugee status. At least we can say they cannot go back without danger, and when they cannot go back in safety we would be inclined to say we like to treat them as refugees.
11
12
23
13
14
15
16
17
18
PATRICIA PENN, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION:
Is it possible to define in any way the groups that are able to leave by orderly departure and the ones who are not able to
leave, that is to say people who are leaving in what you call a 'disorderly manner', the ones who cannot get out in an orderly
manner?
19
20
21
* 2 2 2 2
23 214 2
22
25
26
- 27
28
2 2 2 2
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
MR. HARTLING:
Again, that I don't know, because
the granting of exit visa in Vietnam is a business I cannot
describe to you because I don't know how that works. Some will get exit visa and some will get it rather easily obviously, others not that easily but the rules and the criteria, well, it
is difficult for me to say anything about it because I don't
know. I can only say that in the years 1980/81/82, more people
left Vietnam by boat than by air, but in September '83 or autumn
'83 it changed, and in '84 more people had left by air than by
boat, which is for us encouraging, and that is the only fact I
really have. Still in '85 - this year, in January/February/March/
April, more than 2,000 each month, more than 500 each week,
have seen it, I have travelled with one of these orderly
departure 'planes from Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok.
They clarify, they interview, they put together the files and everything for more than 500 each week; at least that should be a help. I cannot say who are not accepted to have an exit visa
and who are, that's in the hands of the Vietnamese authorities.
I