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(Mr McLaren)
It is not in operation, it is under construction.
16. One of the biggest problems in terms of repatriation has been
the attitude of the United States Government, and we understand that today
the conference in Geneva has not made any progress and has been suspended
indefinitely according to the lunchtime news. I wondered if you could
bring us up to date on that situation and give us any interpretation of
what it actually means in terms of our policy of mandatory repatriation?
(Mr Maude) We have always operated on the basis that the comprehensive
plan of action should be fully implemented. There are essentially four
elements of that. One is first asylum, letting asylum seekers land. The
second is screening to decide which are refugees and which are not. The
third is resettlement of refugees. The fourth is repatriation of non-
refugees. All four elements of the CPA are thus interlocking and dependent
on each other and it is getting full agreement on the implementation of
that fourth element that is of paramount importance.
There was a proposal
to hold a fourth Steering Committee implementing the Comprehensive Plan of
Action next week, I think. That has been postponed, not particularly
because of American concerns but there have been considerable difficulties
in reaching satisfactory dates. We have stressed that it is important that
it should not be postponed for very long because, as the first asylum
countries said at the last meeting in Manila, back in, I think, April, the
ASEAN countries, including Hong Kong, in the absence of the full
implementation of the CPA it was difficult to guarantee that the first
element, that of first asylum, could remain in place forever. So there is
an urgency about resolving this issue in order to preserve the
Comprehensive Plan of Action and in order to preserve the operation of a
decisive refugee policy because, as I say, all four elements depend on each
other.
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