usually considered to be the best option for the child. There has only been one case of adoption of a Vietnamese child in recent years, and this was by an expatriate family living in Hong Kong.
Children whose parents are already in the West would rejoin them under family reunion arrangements. Those whose parents are still in Vietnam have often been sent out in the hope that they will be resettled in the West and will thereby establish a foothold from which the rest of the family can be drawn in. If they have no genuine claim to refugee status, they will be returned to their parents: the practice of sending children alone out of Vietnam carries high risks for the child and is something we would wish to discourage. Ultimately, we hope that all people who wish to leave Vietnam will choose to do so by means of the Orderly Departure Programme, rather than by making the journey to Hong Kong.
We will be watching the work of the UNHCR closely, not least to be doubly sure that children will not be sent back to Vietnam unless they have a family to return to. But I am confident that the Committee will be looking carefully for the right solution in all cases, in the best interests of the children themselves.
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Francis Maude
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