TNAG-2714-FCO40-3920-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 116

At

would have access to them in Vietnam for monitoring purposes.

the same time agreement was reached on the detailed arrangements

for the return of non-refugees arriving in Hong Kong after 29

October 1991 (ORPI).

48. The return of "double-backers" and new arrivals under the

ORP-1 programme began almost immediately. In May 1992 the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Vietnam signed a document setting out the arrangements for the return of Vietnamese migrants who were

already in Hong Kong on 29 October 1991 (ORP II). There have now

been nine flights under the Orderly Repatriation Programme, the

latest on 25 February 1992, and 487 non-refugees have been

returned to date.

49. The Orderly Repatriation Programme has also had a remarkable

effect on the rates of voluntary return to Vietnam and of new arrivals in Hong Kong. During 1992, 12,332 non-refugees returned

voluntarily, 280 returned under the ORP and 3,439 refugees were

resettled in third countries. There were only 12 new arrivals,

compared to more than 20,000 in 1991. If these rates can be

maintained the Hong Kong camps could be empty in some three years time. More than 35,000 screened-out migrants have returned to Vietnam since the start of the UNHCR voluntary programme in 1989

(including returns from other countries in the region). There

have been no substantiated cases of persecution.

50.

Since 1989 Hong Kong has spent US$330 million on Vietnamese

migrants. In a Memorandum of Understanding reached in 1988 the

UNHCR undertook (subject to the availability of funds) to meet the

care and maintenance costs of Vietnamese arriving in Hong Kong.

However, since then the UNHCR has been chronically short of funds.

This, together with the tendency of donors to earmark their CPA

contributions to specific activities, has meant that the UNHCR

have been able to repay only a small proportion of the costs incurred by Hong Kong.

select.cttee.PR.JRB