HC Deb 10 June 1991 vol 192 cc413-4W
Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has collected concerning conditions in Vietnam in the new economic zones and about the prevalance of religious persecution and the number of re-education camps.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

We understand that the Vietnamese policy of moving people to under-populated areas from the over-populated river plains has caused some hardship, but we believe that this policy has now been superseded by voluntary population movement. We have no information on the number of re-education camps. According to the Vietnamese Government, people are not persecuted for their religious beliefs.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the attitude of the Vietnamese Government and penalties under the legal system for the offence of leaving Vietnam without official permission.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

In the statement of 30 April 1991 of the fourth steering committee of the international conference on Indo-Chinese refugees, Vietnam confirms that, in accordance with accepted international understandings, no asylum-seeker who returns would face persecution and reaffirms its previously expressed undertaking to permit the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees full and unhindered access to returnees in the exercise of UNHCR's monitoring function. The steering committee itself noted with satisfaction that there have been no indications that any of the 8,500 returnees has suffered ill-treatment on return.

Mr. Alton

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the number of people currently in prison for their political or religious beliefs in Vietnam.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

According to the Vietnamese Government, people are not imprisoned for their religious beliefs, but only when the practice of those beliefs results in their breaking the law or undermining national security. We have confirmation of four priests in re-education camps. The Vietmanese authorities claim that there are currently fewer than 130 prisoners in such camps who, it is generally acknowledged, have been imprisoned for their political beliefs. The total number of people in arbitrary detention in Vietnam is estimated to be at least 2,000.