Vietnamese Migrants

During the year, 448 Vietnamese refugees were settled overseas and 4 512
Vietnamese migrants were repatriated to Vietnam. The corresponding
figures for 1996 were 274 and 15 101.

The 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.

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 should end on June 30, 1996. In the case of Hong
Kong, which then held half of the Vietnamese migrant population in
South-East Asia, it was agreed that the problem should be resolved as
soon as possible thereafter.

The repatriation of screened-out non-refugees to Vietnam has been
effected through two separate but parallel programmes, namely, the
voluntary repatriation (Volrep) programme operated by the UNHCR and
the Orderly Repatriation Programme (ORP). In 1997, 3 368 persons
returned to Vietnam under Volrep - bringing the total number of
Vietnamese migrants repatriated under this programme to 57 344 since its
inception in 1989.

During the year, ORP operations were by and large smooth and
trouble-free. As part of the standing arrangement, all these operations
were observed by independent monitors, whose reports are published in
full. In 1997, 1 144 Vietnamese migrants were repatriated under the
programme, bringing to 9 702 the total number returned to Vietnam under
the ORP since its introduction in 1991.

The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. The
UNHCR announced in May 1997 a final deadline for joining Volrep. All
Vietnamese migrants determined as non-refugees in Hong Kong were
given the last chance to join the programme before the deadline of
May 23, 1997.

As the number of migrants declined, the government closed the
Whitehead Detention Centre in June and the Kai Tak Vietnamese Migrant
Transit Centre was closed at the end of March, leaving High Island as the
only Detention Centre for Vietnamese migrants and illegal immigrants.

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 67 000 Vietnamese
migrants have returned home from Hong Kong and there has not been a
single substantiated case of persecution.

The HKSARG 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 help returnees resume their
normal lives in Vietnam. The returnee assistance programme run by the
European Community in Vietnam has also offered returnees financial
assistance in various areas. Hong Kong has also contributed to some
small-scale infrastructural projects in the poorer migrant-producing areas
in Vietnam. The total amount contributed by the government was near
$25 million.

The UNHCR is responsible for the costs of the care and maintenance of
Vietnamese migrants but for 1997 could meet only $4 million out of the
$20 million incurred, bringing to $1.16 billion its accumulated debt to
Hong Kong since 1989.

By the end of 1997, there were 687 Vietnamese migrants and 1 213
refugees in the HKSAR. The government is committed to repatriating all
the migrants as soon as possible, thus bringing this saga to an early and
humane conclusion.

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