TNAG-2068-FCO40-2946-Vietnamese-boat-people-and-the-Legislative-and-Executive-Cou-1990 — Page 2

the second Geneva Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees (ICIR) in June 1989, the international community adopted the CPA, the major components of which are

measures to deter clandestine departures;

(a)

(b)

improvements

to

the Orderly Departure Programme

(ODP);

(c)

(d)

(e)

first asylum for all VBP;

screening of all VBP to establish status;

resettlement of those

determined to be refugees;

and

(£)

repatriation refugees.

of

those

determined not to be

4

Government has

supported the CPA on the grounds that it applies well-established international procedures to the VBP problem, and thereby offers the best prospect of bringing the problem under control. In a number of areas, progress has been made. For example, departures from Vietnam under the ODP have increased dramatically during 1989 to more than 45,000, and in

80,000 are expected to leave

this under Similarly, programme.

the resettlement

is package

being implemented ahead of schedule. Progress with repatriation has, however, been slow.

1990

5

than more

A total of 1101 people have returned from Hong Kong to Vietnam since March 1989 under the voluntary repatriation programme operated by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). A further 1275 applications are pending. The voluntary repatriation programme is a most important element of the CPA, and we are committed to encouraging its further development. But all indications to date are that it cannot offer a solution on its own for the increasing numbers now being screened out as non-refugees. Only 32 of the 1275 outstanding applications have come from people who have been definitively screened out (i.e. having completed all stages of the screening and review procedures). Progress with mandatory

There is repatriation consensus on this issue in the Steering Committee established to implement the CPA and some countries are unwilling to support mandatory repatriation as the

outcome logical

has been

even

slower.

lack a

of

of

Y