TNAG-1792-FCO40-2552-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 113

CONFIDENTIAL

1

people arriving by boat from Vietnam would no

longer be automatically deemed to have refugee

status;

- a system of screening on arrival, based on standard

UNHCR criteria (and along lines used by the Home

Office), would be introduced to distinguish

-

genuine refugees from economic migrants;

those arrivals who failed to satisfy the criteria

(ie were screened out) would not be eligible for

resettlement. They would be detained indefinitely

in closed camps, pending eventual return to Vietnam

when this can be agreed with the Vietnamese authorities on the basis of acceptable assurances about their treatment;

the deterrent effects of the new policy would need to be complemented by further pressure on the Vietnamese authorities to cooperate in controlling

the flow of illegal departures from Vietnam.

'4. The long-term effect of the new policy would be to

shift the focus of future action from resettlement to

eventual repatriation. But there would remain those boat

people who had arrived before the introduction of the new

policy, together with those new arrivals screened in as genuine refugees. There would no doubt be an expectation

in Hong Kong that a concerted effort would be made by the

resettlement countries to help tackle this problem. But in practice the Hong Kong Government may be prepared to

absorb locally a significant part of this residual

population. The net effect over time should be a reduction

of pressure on the resettlement countries, compared with

the position if present policies are maintained.

/5.

CONFIDENTIAL