II. STATUS DETERMINATION PROCEDURES
Along with proper criteria, appropriate procedures for determination of refugee status are critical to fair and equitable decision-making.22 Under the CPA, screening procedures must be in accordance with endorsements of UNHCR's Executive Committee, national legislation, and internationally accepted practice. Many of the following procedures are subsumed under UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion No. 8, also found in the Handbook, paragraph 192.
1. Access to determination process. Full and fair access to the determination
process, without exception, is essential.
2. Pre-screening advice and assistance to asylum-seekers. Asylum-seekers
should be provided written materials informing them of the procedures and criteria and advising them of general ways to prepare and present their cases, and the opportunity for assistance in presentation. Legal or other skilled assistance should be made available at the outset under UNHCR auspices. To provide legal assistance only on appeal is merely fighting rather than preventing fires. The overseas Indochinese community present a ready resource for developing these materials and providing legal and other assistance.
3. Regional training of government personnel in refugee and human rights law, interviewing methods, and the historical and cultural situation of the asylum- seekers. Indochinese abroad can provide much assistance by way of background facts regarding persecution and discrimination in Vietnam as well as much-needed orientation toward cultural inhibitions which may hinder the interviewing process.
4. Satisfactory and complete questionnaire implemented with consistency and
governmental oversight. The elements of a satisfactory questionnaire are discussed in Part I above.
5. Trained and certified interpreters in initial interview and on appeal. A
training and certification program for government and UNHCR interpreters should be developed and implemented by UNHCR with the help of Indochinese abroad.
6. Interview on the record. The international human right to a full and fair
hearing to determine one's rights, e.g., ICPR, Art. 14(1), should include the minimum due process safeguard of an objective record. At least until a certification program has been developed and proven effective, the only feasible guarantee to an asylum-seeker of the opportunity to be heard at the first level and on appeal is a taped record.
7. Decision in writing with reasons based on the facts of the particular case, and
notice of appeal right and procedures. Implementation of a written decision
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