TNAG-1789-FCO40-2549-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-general-1989 — Page 201

It was against this background that on 16 June, with our support, the Hong Kong Government introduced a policy of screening all boat people on arrival to distinguish genuine refugees from the rest. The screening procedures are in accordance with the established international criteria and

have been fully endorsed by the UNHCR, who are also able to monitor them. They are fair and objective. I can assure your constituent that there is no question of genuine refugees being returned to Vietnam. All boat people arriving in Hong Kong from Vietnam who meet the criteria for refugee status will continue to be given asylum in Hong Kong while they

await resettlement.

Those who do not meet the criteria for refugee status cannot be permanently housed in the small and overcrowded territory of Hong Kong. They have no prospect of resettlement in the West. Their future can only lie in their own country and it must be right to seek satisfactory arrangements, in consultation with the Vietnamese authorities, for their return. We have made it clear that these arrangements should be humane and that the reintegration of those returned into Vietnamese

We would not society will need to be carefully monitored. repatriate any boat people to Vietnam if we were not satisfied that they would be properly treated on their return and would

not be punished.

The

Some 400 boat people who do not have refugee status have already expressed a wish to return to Vietnam. UNHCR will take charge of the practical arrangements; will monitor their return to ensure that they are properly treated; and will provide financial assistance. We hope that other non-refugees will choose to follow this example, particularly when it becomes clear that they will not be subject to ill-treatment. We believe that a solution on these lines is the only practicable one for all those boat people who do not qualify as refugees.

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