ENG-1996 — Page 504

POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION

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The Hong Kong Government's policy towards Vietnamese migrants is based on the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA), which was endorsed by the international community at the Geneva Conference held in June 1989. The CPA provides that while those Vietnamese migrants who are classified as refugees under the terms of the 1951 United Nations Convention and 1967 Protocol. are eligible for resettlement, those who are found not to be refugees should return to Vietnam.

Screening of Vietnamese migrants was effectively completed in October 1994. Resettlement of the refugees continued, mainly to Canada, Australia and the United States, and 274 refugees were resettled overseas during the year.

The voluntary repatriation programme operated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the preferred means of repatriating those who have been determined not to be refugees. Since its inception, 54 007 Vietnamese have returned to Vietnam under this programme.

In October 1991, agreement was reached with the Vietnamese Government on the orderly repatriation of Vietnamese migrants found to be non-refugees. A total of 9 108 persons have been repatriated to Vietnam under this programme.

In March 1996, the Seventh and last Steering Committee of the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees met in Geneva. It was agreed that the CPA would end on June 30, 1996. In the case of Hong Kong, which then held half of the Vietnamese migrant population in the region, it was agreed that the problem should be resolved as soon as possible thereafter.

With the gradual acceleration of the orderly repatriation programme in 1996, the pace of voluntary repatriation also picked-up. Over the 12-month period, 8 140 persons returned to Vietnam under the voluntary repatriation programme, and 6 963 through the orderly repatriation programme.

Some resistance was encountered with orderly repatriation operations. An exercise involving the transfer of about 1 200 Vietnamese migrants from the Whitehead Detention Centre to the High Island Detention Centre was scheduled for May 11, 1996.

In the early hours of May 10, 1996, a riot was sparked off by the migrants when they fired missiles at patrol cars and broke the gates and fences surrounding the detention centre. The migrants set fire to buildings and vehicles and caused widespread damage. The incident was brought under control only after the use of tear smoke. During the incident, 119 migrants escaped; subsequently, 117 of them were recaptured. The government took immediate measures to strengthen the security of the detention centre.

As the number of migrants declined, the government closed the Tai A Chau Detention Centre in September after moving the migrants there to Whitehead. The Tai A Chau Detention Centre was opened in 1991 when the influx of Vietnamese migrants reached a peak.

Migrants returning to Vietnam are assured that they may do so safely and without fear of persecution. The Vietnamese Government has given guarantees that no returnees will be persecuted. Returnees are also closely monitored in Vietnam by the UNHCR to ensure that these guarantees are fully respected. Since March 1989, more than 63 189 Vietnamese migrants have returned home from Hong Kong and there has not been a single substantiated case of persecution.