TNAG-2168-FCO40-3105-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 210

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maintained, to clear all the non-refugees in Hong Kong in little over 3 years.

The Government also offered to contribute to the cost of a new reception centre near Hanoi to enable the Vietnamese authorities to reach this target.

32. It has been clear for some time, however, that voluntary returns alone cannot provide a comprehensive solution to the problems in Hong Kong. The latest evidence shows that only about 2% of those screened out as non-refugees have volunteered to return to Vietnam. The Government shares the Committee's view that in the absence of significant levels of voluntary repatriation, there is no alternative to the repatriation of those who are screened out (paragraph 5.4). On 12 December 1989, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary therefore announced the Government's decision to

repatriate 51 Vietnamese boat people who were not refugees, under a bilateral agreement reached with the Vietnamese Government in June 1989 which guaranteed that returnees would not be punished by the Vietnamese authorities. No force was used. Two former Ministers (Lord Ennals and Mr Raison MP) visited Vietnam in January and confirmed that no force had been used against those returned and that they had not been ill-treated in any way. Discussions are continuing with the Vietnamese Government on the practicalities of

non-voluntary repatriation. The agreement of June 1989 remains in

force.

33. The Steering Committee of the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees, which reconvened in Geneva in mid-January, narrowly failed to reach agreement on how to deal with those determined not to be refugees following screening. Almost all the participants were prepared to accept that mandatory repatriation could begin from 1 July 1990. In the end consensus was blocked by the United States, which insisted that no one should be returned involuntary before 1 January 1991 and by the Vietnamese who held out

for 1 October 1990. The Government have made clear to the United States Administration that if they continue to oppose involuntary repatriation, Hong Kong and the other places of first asylum would look to the United States to provide an alternative solution.

CATAAU (14)

The

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