TNAG-1905-FCO40-2709-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-voluntary-and-mandatory-repat-1989 — Page 18

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D

and the countries of first asylum in the region began pushing boat people off. For this reason, and particularly because of the

pressure on Hong Kong, the United Kingdom took the initiative in

calling for the first International Conference on Indo Chinese

Refugees to be held at Geneva. As a result of that Conference, the

countries in the region agreed to give first asylum to all boat people arriving on their shores; and the Western countries agreed to resettle them as refugees. Hundreds of thousands of boat people were resettled after 1979 (the UK has taken about 20,000, mostly from Hong Kong).

8.

Initially the arrangements worked reasonably well and in the early to mid 1980s the boat people populations in Hong Kong and

elsewhere steadily diminished, as resettlement exceeded new

arrivals. But from 1986 the situation deteriorated as arrivals

surged to a level which far exceeded the capacity of resettlement countries to take people in. Statistical tables illustrating this

are attached.

9. It was also clear that by the mid to late '80s the outflow of

people was changing in character. The earlier exodus consisted of many people associated with the vanquished regime of South Vietnam.

There were also many ethnic Chinese escaping racial descrimination

and persecution. But by 1987/88 a large proportion (over 90%) of

those who were arriving in Hong Kong were peasants and fishermen

from the northern and central part of the country, who were leaving for economic reasons rather than political ones.

Hong Kong's screening policy

10. On 16 June 1988, faced with a dramatic increase in the numbers

arriving (see statistics at Flag D) the Hong Kong Government

decided, with our full support, to introduce a policy of screening

all arrivals to distinguish genuine refugees from the rest. The

screening procedure was based on the 1951 Convention and the 1967

Protocol on the Status of Re fugees. It was approved by the UNHCR, who agreed to monitor the arrangements. Those screened in as

refugees would join the pre 16 June arrivals awaiting resettlement. Those who failed to meet the criteria for refugee status would be

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