}
input on Hong Kong's behalf, overcrowding has been reduced, although centres remain overcapacity. The best way to continue to reduce overcrowding in the camps is for those who are not refugees to return to Vietnam.
At the resumed third meeting of the Steering Committee of the ICIR in Geneva on 23-24 January, considerable progress was made towards international agreement on arrangements and safeguards for the repatriation of those classified as non-refugees. The great majority of participants were prepared to accept a proposal which would have allowed mandatory repatriation to start on 1 July 1990 with full international backing and with international monitoring under the good offices of UNHCR. Unfortunately, agreement was not reached because the United States and Vietnam wanted to delay the date on which a programme of mandatory repatriation would begin, in the case of the United States for a full year, until January 1991.
We hope that the US Administration will urgently review its position on this: by the beginning of next year another 35,000 boat people could have arrived in Hong Kong unless a very clear message is sent that those who are not refugees will have to return to Vietnam, whether they want to or not. We cannot let the problem continue unresolved.
The world will not resettle people who are not refugees. Hong Kong is small and already overcrowded. The choice
is therefore between repatriation or indefinite confinement of steadily larger numbers of people in camps. Repatriation is the better solution.
Yours sincerely,
Valerie Ewan
Francis Maude
Approved by the Minister and signed in his absence
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