TNAG-2047-FCO40-2917-Visits-by-staff-of-the-Department-of-Trade-and-Industry-to-H-1990 — Page 146

Following a meeting in London between the Vietnamese Foreign Minister and Sir Geoffrey Howe, agreement was reached in Hanoi in late June on arrangements for returning non-refugees who did not volunteer but who would acquiesce. On 12 December, a group of 51 non-volunteers was returned under this agreement. Two former Ministers, one Labour and one Conservative (Lord Ennals and Mr Timothy Raison MP) visited Vietnam and confirmed that no force had been used and that the returnees had been subjected to no ill-treatment by the Vietnamese authorities.

5. Late in 1989 an Amnesty International report raised a number of issues, primarily concerning the integrity of the screening procedure. The Hong Kong Government have worked closely with UNHCR, on the evolution of the procedure. British Ministers are confident that screening is thorough and fair and there is no risk of

returning genuine refugees to Vietnam.

6. The Minister of State (Mr Maude) visited Vietnam in February 1990 and reached agreement that from May 1990, around 1,000 volunteers a month would be accepted back, a rate of flow sufficient to clear the present camp populations in Hong Kong in a little over three years. The United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees (Thorvald Stoltenberg) launched a new initiative in mid-March aimed at tackling the root causes of departures in Vietnam and uprating the voluntary programme. He made clear that UNHCR was prepared to monitor all who return to Vietnam, provided there was a consensus in support.

7. At a regional meeting of the CPA participants in Manila on 17-18 May, the UK announced a £1 million contribution for British NGO activity in areas of Vietnam where boat people come from. At the meeting, first asylum countries issued a tough statement, which was followed by a joint demarche to the US and Vietnamese Governments, to draw their attention to the danger that the CPA would not survive unless agreement could be reached in the Steering Committee on the issue of repatriation of non-refugees. The fourth Steering Committee meeting (SC4) has now been posponed a number of times while negotiations on a consensus text continue. The latest round of such negotiations was in the margins of the ASEAN

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