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We now have to talk to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Vietnamese to see whether a workable scheme can be agreed. There will also be problems of finance. But the main problem is time. The Americans have warned that unilateral measures, such as abandoning screening and early mandatory flights before the IMC is ready, would provoke a strong reaction (both within the Administration and Congress) and destroy the IMC ploy.
The Prime Minister could say:
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Urgent need for a solution in Hong Kong. Camp population now over 61,000. Highest level since 1979;
Nearly 13,000 arrived this year. Close to 200 a day. Treble last year's arrival rate. Only 440 voluntary repatriations in last 3 months;
88% of the
Patience in Hong Kong all but exhausted. population want to abandon first asylum. The Legislative Council may well pass a motion to this effect after elections in September. Hardly
surprising given that ethnic Chinese migrants, with whom Hong Kong citizens have close ties, are repatriated.
- We continue to support the Comprehensive Plan of
Action [governing the International response to Vietnamese asylum seekers and implemented by the UNHCR). But it must be implemented in full, including return of non-refugees to their country of origin.
The Vietnamese have responded encouragingly to our suggestion that an Internationally Managed Centre (or Centres) be established in Vietnam to which non-refugees who do not volunteer could be returned pending re-integration into their own communities;
- This is not the same as repatriating them to Vietnam.
Our intention is that the IMC's will be under international jurisdiction.
Hope you can also support.
If we do not find a
durable solution soon, the chances of the CPA surviving are slim.
- (Defensive) We have every confidence in screening
procedures which were developed with the cooperation of the UNHCR. The UNHCR helps asylum seekers prepare appeals which are considered by an independent review body. No-one whom the UNHCR considers a refugee is sent back.
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