ENG-1992 — Page 445

POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION

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Understanding with the Vietnamese Government on October 29, 1991, which provided for the orderly repatriation of all Vietnamese migrants found to be non-refugees. A total of 367 have since been returned to Vietnam under this programme. The momentum of the voluntary repatriation programme organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also picked up significantly during the course of 1992 reaching an annual record of 12 300 or an average of 1 025 per month.

It is important that migrants returning to Vietnam should be assured that they may do so safely and without fear of persecution. The Hong Kong Government will not send back to Vietnam anyone whom they or the UNHCR believe is a genuine refugee. The Vietnamese Government has given firm guarantees that no returnees will be persecuted. All returnees are closely monitored on their return by the UNHCR to ensure that the guarantees are fully respected. Since March 1989, over 26 700 Vietnamese migrants have returned to Vietnam from Hong Kong and there has not been a single substantiated case of persecution to date.

At the same time, the Hong Kong Government and the international community recognise that while the economy in Vietnam has been improving gradually, returnees may have difficulties in re-establishing themselves on their return. The UNHCR therefore provides financial assistance to returnees to help them to resume their normal lives in Vietnam. The reintegration assistance programme run by the European Community in Vietnam also offers returnees job creation schemes, training courses, start-up loans for businesses and helps finance local infrastructure and health projects. In September 1992, the United States Government announced its intention of contributing US$2 million to fund programmes for assisting in the reintegration of Vietnamese migrants who have returned home. To complement these international efforts, the Hong Kong Government contributed $10 million in July 1992 to finance small-scale infrastructure projects in the poorer migrant producing areas in Vietnam in order to raise living standards and increase employment opportunities for returnees.

By the end of 1992, there were 42 800 Vietnamese migrants and 2 550 refugees in Hong Kong. Of the 42 800 Vietnamese migrants, over 27 000 had been screened out and 15 800 were awaiting screening. The screening policy was introduced on June 16, 1988. Since that date, all new arrivals have been screened to determine their refugee status. The screening process is carried out by immigration officers working under guidelines drawn up in consultation with the office of the UNHCR. Vietnamese screened in as refugees before April 1991 and still awaiting resettlement reside in the Pillar Point Vietnamese Refugee Centre managed by the Hong Kong Housing Services for Refugees Ltd. on behalf of the UNHCR. Those screened in since April 1991 are transferred to the Regional Refugee Transit Centre in Bataan in the Philippines. All those screened out as non-refugees are held in detention centres pending repatriation to Vietnam. They have the right to have their cases reviewed by an independent Refugee Status Review Board (RSRB). Officials of the UNHCR are involved in monitoring the screening process and in preparing cases for review by the RSRB. To speed the pace of refugee status determination, additional resources were injected into the screening process during the year. Over 200 immigration officers, 125 temporary Vietnamese interpreters and six RSRB panels are now engaged in screening work.

Since the introduction of screening, 5 200 have been screened in as refugees and 38 100 have been screened out. At the review stage, in 14 000 cases involving 29 800 persons, the