(e)
(f)
and (ii) very unlikely indeed that repatriation will be either numerically sufficient or satisfactorily humane.
It is generally accepted as necessary that there be some form of effective guarantee that people who are returned to Vietnam will not be subjected to treatment which would otherwise have made them refugees had it occurred prior to departure. The exact nature of this guarantee is difficult to define. Not having yet been to Vietnam, I am unable to say how the current guarantees are working. Nor can I say what conditions in Vietnam are like. If I can get the funding, I will write a further paper on this specific issue and travel to Vietnam with a partner for the purpose. I understand that "more immediate and intensive" UNHCR monitoring is to be carried out in Hanoi from now on. The task is to make the guarantees credible and then comprehensible to boat people.
I regret deeply some public assertions by the British government. The tone seems to me on occasion to be counter-productive, and in one case, it was downright offensive; and the content may well miss the essential points. Two statements, in particular, have struck me. Most recently, the attitude of the British Foreign Office Minister, Lord Caithness, who, on arrival in Hong Kong, spoke of "getting rid" of non-refugees (as if they were objects) seems hardly likely to be conducive to any of the necessary aims of policy."; and it does the United Kingdom no credit. And the statement on screening by his predecessor, Mr. Francis Maude, that "I do not believe any serious risks exist" was unpersuasive to
It must be noted that principled positions have been taken in the past.
If attitudes have changed, I believe that such changes are counter-productive to long-term interests. Policy may have had to change, but a government which professes commitments to human rights and the rule of law may find itself judged adversely if its attitude to those issues changes as well. I would like to ask British ministers if this is fair.
me.
(g) Hong Kong's ́system is said by officials to be better than anyone else's. It may be, and it is certainly very expensive. But the problem is still with us, and I do not yet see that it is one which is likely to diminish sufficiently in the near future. If I may say so: another way has to be found. In his speech to the Legislative Council, the Governor said:-
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ماسة
:-)
6
"I hope that we can now move towards a humane solution which
will bring this tragic migration to an end.
I believe that the only way to do this is for Hong Kong to find a way of being seen to be efficient and fair. Despite the efforts of so many, I fear that the system possesses neither quality in sufficient degree at present. Unless these problems are cured, none of Hong Kong's interests in this regard, nor those of the boat people, are achievable in sufficient degree.