TNAG-1905-FCO40-2709-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-voluntary-and-mandatory-repat-1989 — Page 391

CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES

Geneva, 25 and 26 May 1989)

НКВ 2+313

29

NOTE ON DEPARTURES AND REPATRIATION

1. As a follow-up on the deliberations of the Second Co-ordinating Committee, UNHCR has undertaken, mainly through on-the-spot missions, a series of consultations with various governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations with a view to obtaining clearer statements of intentions or better defining respective roles and commitments prior to the International Conference in connection with the various aspects and forms of departures from and returns to the countries of origin. The following is a non-exhaustive summary of the outcome of these consultations which bears in mind the Co-ordinating Committee consensus on the need further to develop operational modalities for the implementation of certain provisions of the draft Plan of Action.

I.

Clandestine Departures

2. The number of persons leaving Viet Nam has remained particularly high and first asylum countries and Hong Kong have reiterated their deep concern at the continued influx of asylum-seekers. In this context, the Government of Viet Nam provided the following information to a UNHCR mission that visited Hanoi from 13 to 17 May 1989:

3.

a)

b)

c)

It believed that the publicity given to the contents of the Comprehensive Plan of Action soon after the Kuala Lumpur Preparatory Meeting may have contributed to encouraging irregular departures in the period preceding the International Conference;

On the question of bilateral exchange of information with countries of first asylum, an official communication had been addressed to a number of concerned Embassies in Hanoi requesting detailed information, as obtained through the interview of new arrivals, on persons organizing irregular departures for their own benefit;

Further efforts had been made in giving wide publicity to the danger and hardship involved in clandestine departures through a number of articles in the press as well as through radio broadcasts.

On 13 May 1989, a meeting was chaired in Hanoi by Mr. Le Thanh Cong, First Vice Minister for Information. It was attended by representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry for Social Affairs and UNHCR. During the meeting, the First Vice Minister stated the following: