TNAG-1786-FCO40-2546-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-closed-camp-policy-1988 — Page 133

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OXFAM

樂施會

Two years later the Vietnamese government has still not

Yet indicated that it will give the necessary assurances. the Hong Kong government is giving "maxmimum emphasis" to the idea of repatriation.

"All our efforts are channelled in that direction," said Mr French. "We are realistic enough to see we are not getting very far with resettlement, so we have got to make progress on repatriation."

This is understandable.

If a repatriation programme could

be worked out, the whole nature of Hong Kong's refugee problem would change. The problem would become finite, and third countries might be persuaded to accept the refugees already here, as a final 'once and for all' humanitarian gesture.

But what can the Hong Kong government actually DO to promote repatriation? Little more than urge the British government to talk to the Vietnamese authorities and generally canvass the idea internationally. That may not seem much, but it is worth doing. Mr French told us Britain was now "doing as much as it feels it can" in talking directly to the Vietnamese authorities in Hanoi and London and in promoting the idea of repatriation in the international forum.

There are pressing humanitarian reasons for the

international community to relax its attitude to Vietnam, to be willing to begin discussions with the Vietnamese authorities on various issues, of which repatriation of people who are not considered refugees could be one. Vietnam today is a desperately poor country, starved of humanitarian aid, and there is little doubt that many of the more recent arrivals in Hong Kong have fled to escape lives of grinding poverty. Oxfam UK has run a substantial development programme in Vietnam for many years, but there is an obvious limit to what a voluntary agency can achieve. Governmental aid to Vietnam, carefully targeted to help the poorest, could address one of the root causes of the refugee problem.

Leadership changes in Vietnam and in the Soviet Union have raised cautious hopes for change. Washington seems more willing to talk, and the promised withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Kampuchea in 1990 could remove a major obstacle to improving relations with the West.

"We

So there are some encouraging signs and the Hong Kong government is certainly sensible to promote the idea of repatriation, but nobody should expect quick results. are not getting very far so far," said Mr French, "but it is a question of drip, drip, drip eventually the stone gives way."

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