15
actually gone down.
The resettlement programme for refugees
is on target. We expect over 7,000 to leave this year. And
some 4,500 have returned to Vietnam over the past 18 months,
that is since the beginning of the voluntary repatriation
scheme.
27.
The Government's policy will continue
directed towards the full
implementation
to
be
of the 1989
Comprehensive Plan of Action. This means that all those who
do
not qualify for refugee status must return to their homes
in Vietnam. The Plan of Action has been under great strain
elsewhere in South East Asia during the past year. If it is
to
and I
be the basis for policy throughout the region
have no doubt that this is the most humane and effective
then we must get in
answer to a long-standing problem
place arrangements for the orderly return of non-refugees.
The agreement reached in Hanoi on 21 September is a welcome
step in this process.
We now look to the staff of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to do all they
can
to
counsel and persuade non-refugees
to accept the
reality of their position, and to return to their homes in
Vietnam. We will give our full support to this effort.
/28. Meanwhile,