TNAG-1392-FCO40-1864-Future-of-Hong-Kong-briefing-for-meetings-and-visits-1985 — Page 163

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poor state of our

difficulty.

relations W

Finally a decision

thi

Vietnam will contribute to

to treat some boat people a economic migrants rather

than refugees would be a break with the

unwritten understanding reached at the 1979 conference that a l

boat-people should be treated as refugees (however in practice it is

clear that several other

concluded that many of the

rather than refugees).

governments concerned have already

people concerned are economic migrants

19. On 15 January 1985, the Hong Kong Executive Council agreed that

the Hong Kong Government should pursue the possibility of

repatriating all new arrivals who were found not to be refugees,

provided they would not be treated inhumanely. They advised that as

a first step HMG's agreement should be sought to HMA Hanoi discussing

authorities.

the matter with the Vietnamese

(c) Screening of New Arrivals

20.

TI

Recognising that repatriation is unlikely to be feasible in the

short term, the Hong Kong Government has recently examined the

possibility of introducing now a scheme to screen out "economic

migrants from genuine refugees, against

the day when repatriation

of the former might be

possible. Screening would be done by an

UNHCR observer. Those

closed centres pending

Economic migrants Would be detained as illegal

Alternatively, all would be detained initially a s

independent tribunal in the presence of a

identified as refugees would be placed in

resettlement.

immigrants.

illegal immigrants, leaving UNHCR to advise the Hong Kong Government

that particular cases should be given refugee status and transferred

to closed centres.

21. The advantages of this scheme would be:

(a) It might deter some economic migrants from coming to Hong Kong;

(b) it would be in line with Hong Kong's treatment of undocumented

migrants from other countries, including China;

(c) those granted refugee status would have a reasonable prospect of

resettlement in the West.

22. The disadvantages would be:

(a) If arrivals nevertheless continued, Hong Kong would find itself

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