MAR 29
F
88 11:48 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
POLJICY AND ADMINISTRATION ...2
RESETTLEMENT
Five countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain and Hong Kong, operate formal resettlement schemes. Other countries entrust resettlement management to the UNHCA.
Most countries issue UNHCR with criteria for resettlement candidates, such as having close relatives in the country, or havint proof of association with the former Southern regime. Many refugees say they lost all such documentary proof in the course of their boat journey.
Published qoutas are often filled by refugees with personal sponsorship from relatives or church groups. Some countries, such as Canadà, have state quotas for those without sponsorship, and for these the UNHCR can nominate candidates who fulfill the criteria.
The United States has offered to take more refugees from Hong Kong. However, some 70 per cent of the Vietnamese in the closed camps are North Vietnamese, who the United States does not recognise as genuine political refugees.
The published criteria, which are not made available to the refugees, pay little attention to language and vocational skills.
Interviewing and resettlement procedure is erratic, and refugees are often called for Interview at extremely short notice, and rejected without stated reason. Although the Intergovernmental Committee for Migration, responsible for the physical resettlement of refugees, knows of resettlement about four weeks in advance, the refugees themselves are often given only a few days notice.
Such uncertainty increases the psychological strain in the closed camps. UNHCR resettlement official Pirjo Dupuy said that individual countries' resettlement commissions work under considerable pressure. "They want to process as many resettlements se possible. They set their own priorities, and the feelings of the refugees do not always top the list," she said in an interview.
Social workers believe that interview and resettlement procedures should be regularised. They suggest commissions should agree to interview on given days each month, that refugees should be given full reasons for rejection, and that criteria include achievable goals for which refugees can strive while in the camps. They propose that each refugee is seen at least once a year by one of the delegations. The UNHCR supports the proposals, but has no power to enforce them. "We depend entirely upon the goodwill of the resettlement countries," said Dupuy.
BRITAIN'S ROLE IN RESETTLEMENT
Hong Kong remains, until 1997, a British colony, and while it enjoys a high degree of autonomy Britian bears ultimate responsibility for the territory. Local newspapers express the opinion, both in leaders and in their letters pages, that Britain has abdicated its duty in the case of the Vietnamese refugees. Recent reports that Britain has increased intake of refugees direct from Vietnam, bypassing those who have waited for years in Hong Kong's closed camps, have caused much concern and led to questions in the Legislative Council.
The Increased intake direct from Vietnam Indicates that the Orderly Departure Program, which has all but broken down in recent years, is functional again, and this is to be applauded since it may eventually lead to a reductioin in the number of refugees seeking assylum in Hong Kong.
But increasing dialogue with Hanoi is an addition, not an alternative, to finding homes for the refugees now stranded in the colony's closed camps.
"Britain must realise that many countries take their lead in accepting einead camp retugees from Britain. Other countries look at Britain and say "Britain isn't taking many refugees form its own colony. Why should we?" If Britain increases its quota, there is a real hope that other countries will follow suit," said the UNHCR's Dupuy.
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