TNAG-2593-FCO40-3781-Appointment-of-Chris-Patten-as-new-Governor-of-Hong-Kong--Ap-1992 — Page 90

DRAFT PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION

Q. To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth

Affairs if he will make a statement on Vietnamese migrants.

A.

the]

eJsed

On

the British, Hong Kong and Vietnamese Governments

reached agreement on the modalities for the second phase of the Orderly Repatriation Programme, covering the repatriation from Hong

Kong of Vietnamese illegal immigrants that is those who under the

screening procedures agreed and monitored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been found not to be

refugees.

This second phase, agreed in principle last October with Vietnam, covers those Vietnamese migrants who were already in Hong Kong on 29

October 1991 when the Orderly Repatriation Programmne was announced.

Earlier arrangements covered those who arrived in Hong Kong after

that date and those who, having already been repatriated

voluntarily, returned to Hong Kong in the hope of collecting a

further UNHCR reintegration allowance.

There are still 56,000 Vietnamee migrants in Hong Kong, the vast

majority of whom will probably not qualify as refugees. Those who

are screened out will be encouraged to return under the UNHCR

scheme. We hope most will do so. But inevitably some will not. These will be returned under the Orderly Repatriation Programme.

The Orderly Repatriation Programme is based on the firm principles

that nobody who UNHCR believes to be a refugee will be returned and

that no returning migrant will face persecution. The Vietnamese Government has reaffirmed its commitment not to persecute returnees

and to facilitate access to them by UNHCR and others to ensure this

guarantee is respected.

Since 1988 more than 20,000 Vietnamese migrants have returned home

from the region without a single substantiated case of persecution.

VM1AGK

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