TNAG-1536-FCO40-2100-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1986 — Page 14

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Japan's Position

6.

Almost 20% of the Vietnamese refugees accepted by Japan prior to 1982 were from Hong Kong; since then this proportion has not

believe that a major reason for this is the

vaguely-drafted rules SO as to disqualify

exceeded 8.1%.

We

zealous application of

most applicants.

7.

The criteria Japan uses to select Indo-Chinese refugees for

resettlement do not appear to be unduly

to be unduly restrictive

restrictive as regards the

definition of a connection with Japan, but the requirement for experience which may

facilitate employment in Japan excludes many refugees who would otherwise qualify; and is not one which, So far

as we know, any other resettlement country uses.

8.

However, (as with other aspects of Japanese bureaucratic

practice) it is the interpretation of apparently innocuous

regulations which causes most problems. Officials have wide

discretion to decide whether or not a refugee qualifies, and the

interviews of applicants conducted by Japanese officials

in Hong

Kong produce a very low "pass rate" (eg 5 out of 134 in January

1986). The interviews include tests in mental arithmetic, another feature apparently unique to Japanese

to Japanese selection for resettlement,

and a

further unwritten requirement is invoked: willingness to

accept resettlement in Japan is introduced as a criterion.

officials reject any refugee showing the slightest equivocation or

hestitation. The result of these procedures is Japan's abysmal

record of resettlement compared to other countries.

9.

The

in

The Japanese agreed to consider carefully our request

September for them to accept more refugees from Hong Kong. At a UNHCR meeting in January Japan announced that 25 refugees accepted for resettlement in Japan were awaiting travel

awaiting travel from Hong Kong, and that the possibility of taking more was being studied. The 25 had

in fact been accepted by a mission in early 1985; we learned later that the end-1985 mission had accepted only 5 out of 134 refugees

interviewed. HMA Tokyo expressed to MFA in April his concern over

Japan's poor resettlement

the latter took note. We

performance:

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