screening procedure, approved and monitored by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The second Geneva International Conference, held in June of 1989, agreed on a Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which screening, based on the Hong Kong model, and with the full involvement of the UNHCR, would
This be introduced throughout the South East Asian region. signalled the end of the era of automatic resettlement. Asylum seekers were thereafter to be divided into those accorded refugee status, who would await settlement in the West; and it was agreed that those whom screening had determined not to be refugees should return to their country of origin.
So far over 1,000 volunteers have returned to Vietnam, and the first group of people who had not volunteered, but who had been determined by the screening process not to be refugees, were returned from Hong Kong in December 1989.
The Comprehensive Plan of Action carries a separate section devoted to the treatment of unaccompanied children. Its cardinal principles are that any action on behalf of children should be, first of all, in the best interest of the child, and secondly, in the interests of family unity. It provides for the establishment of a Committee to be made up of representatives of the Hong Kong government, UNHCR and any other appropriate agencies, tasked to find solutions as quickly
Unaccompanied as possible on a case by case basis for each child. children should be identified as soon as possible after arrival: those over 15 should be screened, but by specially qualified staff; for those under 15, the Committee should take the decision on which solution would be in the best interests of the child.
The UNHCR have established the Committee in Hong Kong and have appointed an executive agency to deal with the detailed casework. Research so far has shown that unaccompanied children in the camps. in Hong Kong tend to fall into two categories: those whose parents have already reached the West, and those whose parents remained behind in Vietnam. In a very large number of cases, the children are in the care of uncles or aunts in a wider network of extended Vietnamese families. This makes it difficult to estimate the total number of unaccompanied children in Hong Kong, but we believe the