TNAG-1906-FCO40-2710-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-voluntary-and-mandatory-repat-1989 — Page 164

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Second Geneva Conference on Indo Chinese Refugees

14.

Largely at the instigation of the ASEAN countries, a second

Geneva Conference was held in June 1988. It achieved some very significant results and endorsed a Comprehensive Plan of Action to

resolve the problem. The key decisions were

agreement to region wide screening of all boat people;

agreement that all those screened out should eventually go

back (By the same token, the Conference sent a resounding

message from the international community as a whole that those

screened out would not be resettled. Under present

circumstances and for the foreseable future we see absolutely no

prospect of this changing.);

agreement to the resettlement within 3 years of all those

with refugee status.

However the Plan did not go as far as we would have liked on

repatriation. It stated that in the first instance every effort

should be made to persuade boat people to return voluntarily. It

was too vague about how and when alternatives to voluntary repatriation would be introduced.

15. At the Conference, however, the Vietnamese offered bilateral

negotiations on repatriation, and Sir Geoffrey Howe took this up. Α

bilateral agreement was initialled, on 26 June. The agreement was endorsed at a meeting in London between Sir Geoffrey Howe and Nguyen

Co Thach on 28 June. The text of a minute on the modalities of

repatriation of the first group under the terms of the 26 June document were agreed in Hanoi on 1 August and await initialling.

Ministerial discussion of the boat people problem

16.

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OD(K) has discussed the problem on two recent occasions. It

met on 8 June to consider tactics for the Geneva Conference (minutes

attached). And it met again on 29 June to assess the results and consider next steps (minutes attached). At those meetings OD(K)

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