Eoin Ryan
Question:56 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs whether he has raised the situation and conditions of the Vietnamese boat people in camps in Hong Kong with the relevant authorities. [10654/96]
Written Answers. - Vietnamese Boat People.
Since the Communist takeover of Saigon in 1975, more than 800,000 Vietnamese have passed through the refugee camps in South-East Asia, most on their way to resettlement in the United States, Canada, France, Australia and other so-called third countries. Ireland has also accepted a number of refugees and there are now more than 500 Vietnamese refugees settled in Ireland, including more than 100 children born here.
In 1989 a UN-brokered Comprehensive Plan of Action — CPA — established a screening system under which third countries would accept only those they deemed true refugees. Some 115,000 Vietnamese were deemed to be economic migrants in South-East Asia and thus ineligible to be considered for resettlement. As of April 1996, about 77,000 of these had been sent home by air.
Some 18,000 people remain in camps in Hong Kong, and officials there are seeking to repatriate them before 1 July 1997, when the British colony will revert to China. The Chinese Government has demanded that those people currently occupying the camps be returned to Vietnam before this date.
With regard to the recent forcible repatriation of Vietnamese boat people and the reported disturbances in camps in Hong Kong, I understand the UN High Commissioner for Refugees — UNHCR — regretted that Hong Kong's recent deportations of the boat people had been necessary. The boat people were among thousands interviewed by the UNHCR over the years in Hong Kong and other Asian countries and were among those deemed to be economic migrants rather than refugees. The UNHCR holds the view that it is Hong Kong's sovereign right to return the boat people to Vietnam.
I understand that the British Prime Minister has raised the situation of the returning boat people with Vietnam's Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, who has said that Vietnam wished to see the repatriation carried out in a way that respected the safety and dignity of the returnees, and with international assistance conforming to agreements already made between the parties concerned.
It should be noted that officials in the UNHCR have detected no systematic harassment or political persecution of boat people who return to Vietnam. The UNHCR believes that those who go back will find their native country dramatically changed for the better.
The UNHCR has recently announced its decision to end the Comprehensive Plan of Action on 30 June 1996. According to the UNHCR, the goals of the CPA have been accomplished: asylum has been upheld, genuine refugees have been recognised and resettlement has been generously provided, and returnees have been fairly and humanely treated under the watchful eye of UNHCR.
The decision to end the CPA means that the UNHCR will phase out its care and maintenance activities in South-East Asian camps. In Hong Kong, however, which shelters a larger number of boat people, the UNHCR will maintain alternative arrangements. Moreover, UNHCR's extensive programme to monitor people who have returned to Vietnam, and its financial assistance and micro-development projects to facilitate reintegration of returnees, will continue well beyond the ending of the CPA.
According to the UNHCR, the Vietnamese Government has also stated that it would facilitate boat people who return to Vietnam to then depart the country, provided that they are eligible for exit permits from Vietnam. The United States Government has indicated that it would offer expanded opportunities for the departure to the US of returnees, and the UNHCR hopes that this will encourage the remaining population in camps to return home voluntarily as soon as possible.
In all these circumstances I would not consider it appropriate to raise the question at present, but I will keep this matter under continuing review.