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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1988
36
'FAIR AND FIRM' TREATMENT FOR VBP'S
THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE BOTH 'FAIR AND
VIETNAM,
FIRM' IN DEALING WITH SIR DAVID GOVERNOR,
THE
FROM PEOPLE THE INFLUX OF BOAT WILSON, TOLD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).
"WE MUST BE CONSCIOUS BOTH OF HUMANITARIAN PRINCIPLES NEEDS OF OUR OWN COMMUNITY, SIR DAVID SAID.
11
AND THE
WITH THE PROBLEM OF FOR 13 YEARS, HONG KONG HAD HAD TO COPE
11 HE SAID. VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE. "WE HAVE A RECORD TO BE PROUD OF,'
THE
AS THOSE
THE CENTRAL ELEMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY MUST REMAIN ΤΟ SOLUTIONS
REPATRIATE THOSE SCREENED SEARCH FOR DURABLE ECONOMIC MIGRANTS, AND TO FIND RESETTLEMENT PLACES OVERSEAS FOR FOUND TO BE GENUINE REFUGEES, THE GOVERNOR SAID.
WITH SINCE 1975, 133,000 BOAT PEOPLE HAD ARRIVED IN HONG KONG,
TURNED AWAY, HE NONE OF THEM HAD BEEN ALMOST 69,000 IN 1979 ALONE. SAID.
OUR
HAS
IT FOUND TURNED OUT ΤΟ
COMMUNITY "BUT, AS THE YEARS HAVE PASSED, INCREASINGLY HARD TO ACCEPT THAT THIS PHENOMENON HAS BE NOT A SHORT TERM EMERGENCY BUT A CONTINUING OUTFLOW."
POINTED
OUT THAT AT
THE UNHCR-ORGANISED WAS AN UNDERSTANDING
REFUGEES. THAT ALL BOAT PEOPLE LEAVING VIETNAM WOULD BE CLASSIFIED AS
WOULD GIVE
SHELTER: ARRIVED THE PLACES WHERE THEY
THE GOVERNOR CONFERENCE ON REFUGEES IN GENEVA IN 1979 THERE
THEM
TEMPORARY
COUNTRIES OF RESETTLEMENT WOULD PROVIDE A LONG TERM HOME.
HAVE BEEN
PREPARED
"WE IN HONG KONG PROVIDING TEMPORARY SHELTER ON THE BASIS PREPARED TO OFFER PERMANENT RESETTLEMENT,
"IN RECENT YEARS IT HAS
[
ΤΟ
BY PLAY OUR PART THAT OTHER COUNTRIES WERE
HE SAID.
THAT APPARENT BECOME
THIS
COMPLEMENTARY ARRANGEMENT HAS BROKEN DOWN.
KONG
FROM HONG INCREASED BY 65 PER
LAST YEAR THE NUMBER OF BOAT PEOPLE RESETTLED FELL BY 42 PER CENT WHILE THE NUMBERS ARRIVING CENT.
ALSO ARRIVING THE TYPE OF PEOPLE WHO WERE WERE NOW ALMOST ALL ETHNIC VIETNAMESE, MOST FORMERLY NORTH VIETNAM.
CHANGED AND THEY OF THEM FROM WHAT WAS
"MANY
OF
THE RESETTLEMENT
COUNTRIES
QUESTIONED WHETHER THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT ECONOMIC MIGRANTS RATHER REFUGEES AS DEFINED UNDER ACCEPTED INTERNATIONAL CRITERIA: BEEN UNWILLING TO PROVIDE RESETTLEMENT PLACES FOR THEM.
HAVE
THAN
THEY
HAVE
SIR DAVID
SAID:
/MOST VIETNAMESE
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