CONFIDENTIAL
to attract harsh international criticism.
Conflicting views of Hong
Kong's proposals have been expressed by UNHCR officials, but their
official position is that all repatriation of refugees should be
voluntary. When Mr Raison saw Mr Moussalli, UNHCR Director of
International Protection in March 1984, the latter said that UNHCR
had opened the question of repatriation with the Vietnamese
authorities and would pursue it. However they would need guarantees
that returnees and their families would not be penalised in any way.
He thought that the Vietnamese would eventually change their law to
grant amnesty to those who had left and to give assurances that they would receive normal supplies of rations, etc. He suggested that
Hong Kong should be patient and not introduce their proposals until
acceptable Vietname se assurances were forthcoming.
19. I f we wished now to approach the Hanoi government about Hong
Kong's proposals we should therefore reckon without UNHCR
assistance. A bilateral initiative by Britain with Vietnam could
give rise to adverse political reactions at home and abroad, given
Vietnam's human rights record. and the improbability of their We
could try to open a dialogue within the framework of Our present contacts with the Vietnamese on matters relating to the ODP (see
para 2).
These might be expanded to include not only repatriation
but also the question of what steps in addition to the ODP the
Vietnamese might be ready to take to reduce the numbers of illegal
departures. As there is clearly some cooperation (often involving
bribery) between Vietnamese authorities and boat people, at least
a local level we should not be surprised if our approaches led
nowhere. But we might nevertheless try; and we might encourage
other countries to make similar approaches, bilaterally or collectively, (Indeed other places of first asylum in the region
might consider doing so. For example the Thais, who have had some
success in arranging the repatriation of Laotian refugees through
UNHCR, might well be interested in any similar arrangement for
repatriation to Vietnam).
Interim Proposal : Screening of New Arrivals
on
feasible in the
20. Recognising that repatriation is unlikely to
short term, the Hong Kong Government has recently examined the possibility of introducing now a scheme to screen out "economic
CONFIDENTIAL
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.