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11. Status of Refugees after 1997
It is our firm intention that the Vietnamese refugee problem in Hong Kong should be resolved well before 1997. However the Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong provides for the continuation after 30 June 1997 of Hong Kong's present social and legal systems. Any refugees then in Hong Kong should thus retain their current
status.
12.
The Orderly Departure Programme
The Orderly Departure Programme is an administrative arrangement to enable people who meet the UK's standard family reunion criteria under our immigration rules, and who are therefore entitled to enter the UK, to leave Vietnam. The programme was put in place in 1979 to facilitate a legitimate channel for departures from Vietnam for those eligible, and thereby to reduce the pressure for illegal departures. The rate of departure under the programme is controlled by the Vietnamese authorities and any of those eligible have already
There is no question of the waited years to be permitted to leave. programme being at the expense of the resettlement of refugees from Hong Kong.
13.
International Conference on Vietnamese Refugees
We believe that a conference at this time on Vietnamese boat people alone would be very unlikely to attract wide international support.
A conference on refugees in Indo-China would almost certainly become diverted to political issues. We believe the best way forward is through our continuing discussions with the UNHCR and the main resettlement countries.
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