TNAG-2033-FCO40-2896-Visit-by-Douglas-Hurd--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Co-1990 — Page 79

Vietnam.

48.

AMNESTY REPORT

We are studying the Amnesty Report. Several of the incidents

mentioned in the Report have been investigated by the Government of Hong Kong and the criticisms have not been accepted.

Amnesty Report: Screening

Our aim in the screening process is to balance an applicants' right to a quick decision against the need to ensure that examination of each case is fair and thorough.

Confident that the screening procedure is fair and thorough and that genuine refugees will not be returned to Vietnam. The Ennals/Raison Report has confirmed this.

We have consistently made clear that the screening process has been devised with the full cooperation of the UNHCR, who can attend interviews and, through the exercise of their mandate, reverse any decision on individuals that they are not happy with.

Amnesty Report: Conditions in Camps

We note the Report's conclusion that conditions in detention centres are not cruel, inhumane, or degrading, although there is room for

improvement.

The Hong Kong authorities faced enormous difficulties last summer when boat people were arriving, sometimes at over 1,000 per day. Some 34,000 arrived in 1989. The fact that they were all given food and shelter is a great credit to the Hong Kong authorities.

Since last summer, conditions in the camps have improved considerably: new accommodation is now becoming available and boat people are being moved from temporary accommodation to purpose-built accommodation. There are no more boat people on ferries.

PSRAAL