37 03-90
12:17
AL 273 83A3
NO.636
FANZ
[Revised with comments from HKD, FCO. ]
Vietnamese Boat People
The majority of the participants at the UNHCR's Steering Committee 3 on
23/24 January accepted that mandatory repatriation of boat people who have been determined through internationally accepted procedures not to be refugees should begin on 1 July 1990. But a full consensus, which would have enabled an orderly and internationally supported programme to go ahead, was blocked by the USA and Vietnam, who proposed further delay.
The American position is that repatriation should be confined to volunteers. But it is clear that such an approach will not make a significant impact on the very large numbers present in Hong Kong numbers which represent an intolerable burden on the finances (currently costing some $140m a year) and the physical facilities of Hong Kong.
[Statistics at 24 March attached. }
Of over 7,000 screened out so far, only some 160 have volunteered to return to Vietnam. And against some 55,000 boat people now in Hong Kong, the total number of volunteers is at present only 1,700 (nearly 1,500 have already returned). Only a small proportion of those awaiting screening are expected to qualify as refugees for resettlement in the West.
I
These figures speak for themselves. Non refugees in regional countries, including Hong Kong, have no alternative but to return to Vietnam. An orderly programme of return, with monitoring by the UNHCR, is the only solution to the plight of these people. This principle was agreed unanimously by the international community in June of last year.
111-treatment of those returning to Vietnam
The
There is no evidence that those returning to Vietnam have been ill-treated or discriminated against in any way. The UNHCR has been monitoring those returning under the voluntary programme. Raison/Ennals mission in December interviewed the majority of the 51 who were mandatorily repatriated in November 1989, and found that none had been ill-treated in any way.
It is true that there are laws in Vietnam against leaving the country without official permission. These apply equally to those who return voluntarily and non-voluntarily. However the Vietnamese authorities have given specific assurances that no action will be taken against returning VBP.