HONG KONG BACKGROUND
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE (VBP)
BACKGROUND
1.
Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, large numbers of people have left Vietnam. In all, some 160,000 have been granted temporary refuge in Hong Kong (the total population now stands at just under 53,000). Under the agreement reached at the first UN International Conference on
Indo-Chinese refugees (ICIR) in 1979, all those arriving were accorded refugee status and offered resettlement in the West. In the early to mid 1980s, the boat people population in Hong Kong steadily diminished as the programme of resettlement took effect, with some 13,000 coming to
Britain. But from 1986 the situation deteriorated as
arrivals began to exceed the willingness of countries in the West to take people in.
2. From 1988 the scale of the problem increased dramatically, with a major new influx. It had been clear for some time that the majority of those arriving were economic migrants (many from the northern part of Vietnam), rather than genuine refugees with a well-founded fear of persecution. In response to these new circumstances, the Hong Kong Government decided, with Britain's full support, that from 16 June 1988 all boat people would be subject to a screening procedure, approved by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and based on internationally accepted criteria, to distinguish between those who are refugees and those who are not. The procedure has been evolved in close consultation with UNHCR and we are confident that it is fair and thorough and that genuine refugees will not be returned to Vietnam.
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