ruments. This will involve a look at the applicant's past experiences and back-ound as well as prospects for the applicant's future if returned to his or her own count... Future prospects can be determined by examining the applicant's reasons for leaving and reasons for unwillingness or inability to return in the future.
To provide accurate evaluations based upon all the facts of the case, these issues must be explored thoroughly with proper questioning. An adequate, well-administered questionnaire will also help fulfill the examiner's duties required under governing international standards, including (1) the duty to ascertain all the relevant facts and reasons for the persecution feared; (2) the duty to give the applicant the benefit of the doubt despite absence of evidence; and (3) the duty not to discriminate among applicants by place of origin.2
To give practical effect to these principles, the questionnaire presently in use in Hong Kong must be revised, and the revised version implemented region-wide. A copy of the current Hong Kong questionnaire is attached to these recommendations for reference. Without excluding other needed modifications, the following recommended revisions should be incorporated into the current Hong Kong questionnaire to produce a proper questionnaire for regional use.
A. Past Persecution and Human Rights Violations
In general, the questions in the current Hong Kong questionnaire ("HKQ") should be divided and rephrased to eliminate their compound nature. As one example, Question C(2)(iv) regarding political activity3 should be divided into two questions: one about the activities of the organization, and a second about the role played in the organization. Points regarding particular questions follow.
1. General Background
[HKQ, Section C(1)]
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a. This section should include new questions pertinent to applicants from
northern Vietnam. For example, Question C(1)(i)" presently requests information about the applicant's situation before 1975, a date relevant only to those from South Vietnam. Alternative questions should be included for use with a northern Vietnamese applicant, substituting the year 1954 in place of 1975, and including indicia of northern-style persecution following the division of Vietnam in 1954. Members of the Indochinese community overseas who previously lived in North Vietnam are equipped to provide information on such persecution.
b.
Questions in this section should be rephrased to provide more specific answers. For example, in Question C(1)(i), insert follow-up questions (or a check-off list) to ensure the interviewer covers social status, residence, education, employment, political views, religion, and any other fact the applicant can remember about the family situation.
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