J
(It is of course
agreement on the status and treatment of non-refugees. immensely valuable to have some sort of UNHCR legitimisation of our efforts).
14. Two formidable stages remain further bilateral discussions with the Vietnamese, and multilateral discussions (an Asean Conference) probably in the Spring. This does not allow us the luxury of linking any action we might take with Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia; it is all moving too quickly for that. I am certain that we should not be drawn into discussions with the Vietnamese about long-term development assistance at this stage; but equally I think it certain that we shall need to offer some sort of rehabilitation assistance if a solution is to be found. I shall want to keep a very close grip on this. At present my thinking is that we should be aiming for (a) a financial contribution to the UNHCR operation in Hong Kong itself, (b) encouragement to the UNHCR to launch (at our expense) a small pilot scheme to return the first group of detainees to Vietnam, and (c) a contribution when the UNHCR appeals for its overall regional programme of assisting returning economic migrants. I mention the pilot scheme at (b) because I think it important to get something moving reasonably soon, and certainly before the Asean Conference, in order to reassure opinion in Hong Kong.
15. I think we on reasonably good ground in presenting our treatment of refugees and detainees. For the first group, conditions in the closed camps are crowded, and in San Yick 2,800 refugees have been indoors in one building almost constantly for several weeks. But the end of the road (which began six years ago, in some cases) is now in sight for them, and their morale seems high. For the detainees, the problem is potentially more serious; they know that they will not be accorded refugee status, they have little with which to occupy their time, and violence could flare up at any time. The more we can secure the support of others, like the UNHCR and the Save the Children Fund, in running the camps, the more likely we are to avoid an incident and to secure at least some support for our position if one occurs. Such an incident may prove to be the recent allegations of ill-treatment at one centre, on which an independent commission is about to
But our best defence must be that we are doing all we can to ensure
report.
CONFIDENTIAL
/that all categories