TNAG-1788-FCO40-2548-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1988 — Page 85

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The U.S. is prepared to offer immediate financial support to the UNHCR for the implementation of a region-wide screening program, including the training of host country authorities to conduct screening interviews.

THE SCREENED-IN

The U.S. believes that all screened-in populations should be humanely sheltered in first asylum countries until they can be processed for resettlement. UNHCR should assume full responsibility for the care and protection of the screened-in, as it does for all refugees The U.S. believes that it would be throughout the region.

impractical and costly to move the screened-in to a regional holding center prior to their being accepted for third country resettlement and would oppose any such proposal.

THE SCREENED-OUT

The U.S. accepts that the eventual return to country of origin of those determined to be non-refugees should be part of the plan to implement a screening program. The U.S. could accept the repatriation to Vietnam of those determined to be non-refugees if the following conditions could be met: 1) the U.S. was confident those returned had no legitimate claim to refugee status; 2) the SRV pledged no recrimination against those returned; and, 3) the repatriation effort was implemented by an appropriate international organization, preferably the UNHCR, with access for long term follow-up and monitoring to ensure that the SRV fulfilled its pledge of no recrimination. The U.S. believes that it is imperative that negotiations with the SRV on repatriation be conducted by one representative of the international community, and not in several simultaneous bilateral fora. The U.S. urges that the UNHCR take the lead in discussions with the SRV on repatriation, and that the ASEAN countries, Hong Kong, and major donor/resettlement countries support UNHCR in this role.

The U.S. is not in a position to contribute financially to a repatriation program to Vietnam; however, the U.S. will not discourage other potential donors. In the context of the withdrawal of SRV troops from Cambodia, the U.S. would be prepared to reconsider this issue.