BRITISH EMBASSY,
WASHINGTON, D. C.
697
PA
From the Charge d'Affaires a.i.
22 August 1988
The Honorable Rudy Boschwitz United States Senate
Washington DC 20510
Dear Senater beschütz
RECE
Hap
HKD 243
30 AUG
Си газд
N
S
Thank you for your letter of 10 August to Sir Antony Acland, who is on leave at present, about the proposed visit to Hong Kong by a representative of the Indochina Resource Action Center (IRAC).
IRAC have indeed been in touch with us about this visit. After consulting the Government in Hong Kong we have replied to the President of IRAC making clear that the Hong Kong Government would be glad to arrange a programme for the IRAC representative to meet Hong Kong Government officials and visit the closed centres for refugees.
As a
The request to visit the centres for boat people awaiting screening and for those who have been screened out as illegal immigrants raises more difficult issues. result of the massive increase in the number of Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong, and the sharp decline in resettlement, the total number of Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong has risen rapidly from 8,000 in July 1987 to over 23,000 a year later. In response, the Hong Kong Government have been obliged to introduce a new policy. This provides that all Vietnamese boat people who arrived in Hong Kong after 16 June are screened, to determine whether any qualify as genuine refugees according to internationally accepted criteria. This screening is carried out by Hong Kong Immigration Department staff on the basis of individual interviews. It is based on guidelines laid down by the UNHCR, who are able to monitor it. The IRAC representative would thus be able to discuss this screening process with UNHCR representatives in Hong Kong as well, of course, as with officials of the Hong Kong Government. But it would not be appropriate for the IRAC representative to attend the screening process.
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