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INTRODUCTION / AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL – A WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN
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A large part of Amnesty International's work on behalf of asylum-seekers and refugees is done by the organization's sections in the countries where people seek protection. For example, during 1990 Amnesty International's Hong Kong and British sections had several meetings with officials in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom (UK), calling on these governments to implement the recommen- dations set out in the organization's January 1990 Memorandum regarding the protection of Vietnamese asylum-seekers in Hong Kong (see entry on Hong Kong).
Amnesty International's Finnish Section raised its concern with the Finnish Government about access to refugee-determination procedures, and in particular reports indicating that visa requirements were being applied in such a way that could obstruct Somali asylum-seekers travelling through the USSR from seeking protection in Finland (see entry on USSR).
The British Section submitted to the UK Government over 30 detailed recom- mendations arising from the organization's concerns about serious deficiencies. in policy and practice in the UK which, in Amnesty International's view, put asylum-seekers at risk of being expelled to countries where they faced imprison- ment, torture, "disappearance" or execution. For example, the section was con- cerned about instances in which, on occasion, airport immigration officials had denied asylum-seekers access to the refugee-determination procedure in the UK; the section also expressed concern about the imposition of visa requirements, together with fines imposed on airlines carrying passengers without a valid visa, which had been shown to obstruct asylum-seekers from obtaining access to refugee-determination procedures in the UK.
Members of Amnesty International's United States (US) Section raised with the us Government the organization's concern that for some years the pattern of acceptance and denial of asylum applications in the United States of America (USA) had consistently demonstrated a clear bias against granting asylum to people from certain countries where widespread and serious human rights abuses occurred, in particular asylum-seekers from El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti. The section also expressed concern about the government's practice of interdiction at sea of Haitians attempting to reach the USA, which could obstruct asylum-seekers at risk of human rights abuses in Haiti from seeking protection in
the USA.
Throughout the year Amnesty International sections in member states of the European Community (EC) raised concerns with their governments, and with members of their national parliaments and the European Parliament, about pro- posals contained in certain draft intergovernmental treaties under discussion among EC member states, and the implications of these proposed measures for the protection of asylum-seekers (see Introduction/Work with Intergovernmental Organizations).
These are just a few examples of the substantial work done during 1990 on behalf of asylum-seekers and refugees by Amnesty International's sections; such work is not reflected in the country entries in this report, which cover only the activities of the International Secretariat.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 1991
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