- Phase II of the Programme (agreed with the Vietnamese on 12 May 1992) will involve the repatriation of non-refugees who were already in Hong Kong before the announcement of the ORP on 29 October 1991.
2. ORP Procedures - Procedures in accordance with international
practice for the return of illegal immigrants.
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Screening and appeal procedures monitored by UNHCR who have
mandate to declare anybody a refugee at any stage of the process.
UNHCR have expressed satisfaction with screening process and it has passed the scrutiny of judicial review.
Nobody declared a refugee by UNHCR will be repatriated.
754 people declared refugees by UNHCR (after Hong Kong
determination of their status) since screening started in 1988.
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Non refugees took advantage of Hong Kong's generous first asylum policy, leading to current crisis.
3 Future Flights
Only 45 new arrivals in Hong Kong in November and December 1991 and only 7 so far in 1992 (3,500 in first four months of 1991).
- 7,666 voluntary reptriations from Hong Kong in 1991. 3,700 so far in 1992. 18,744 since voluntary repatriation began.
Hope majority of the screened-out remaining in Hong Kong will now volunteer. But some will not, and further ORP flights will be required (to demonstrate we have the will and the means to clear the camps of non-refugees (illegal immigrants) with the objective of maximising voluntary returns under UNHCR auspices).
the next flight (the first under Phase II of the ORP) is planned
for late-June.
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