TNAG-1529-FCO40-2093-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1986 — Page 101

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Measures

There are a number of measures which have been or can be employed to mitigate the problems of the various outflows from the Indochinese countries. The principal steps attempted or possible are:

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Measures by first refuge countries to deter further arrivals. These include:

deferring access of new arrivals to resettlement.

holding arrivals in austere conditions.

limiting access of voluntary and international agencies to holding centres.

These measures can deflect arrivals to neighbouring countries, induce would-be departees to postpone departures or, in some cases, actually deter departures in general. However, they do nothing to break down the assumption that arrival in a country of first refuge means eventual resettlement.

Measures by resettlement countries to select only genuine refugees for resettlement. A variant of such measures currently under consideration by some countries is the use of migration criteria for persons ineligible for refugee resettlement. This implies much more serious attempts to select out non-refugees than in the past. Such measures preserve the integrity and public defensibility of refugee programs. They can also have a restrictive effect on the overall level of departures by creating the impression that resettlement countries are "tightening up". The record to date of such measures in deterring the outflow of non-refugees is not encouraging.

Measures to slow down resettlement processing and create, as a deterrent, build-ups of caseloads in countries of first refuge. These measures would normally be employed in concert with measures to select out non-refugees. As with the deterrent measures imposed by countries of first refuge, such actions can reduce levels of arrivals by increasing the difficulty of eventual resettlement and creating some uncertainty amongst those not considered refugees. Our ability to employ such measures (including measures to reject

non-refugees) is governed by the tolerance of first

refuge Governments to build-ups in caseloads and

our own perception of humane treatment.