VIETNAMESE MIGRANTS TO HONG KONG (Hansard, 11 November 1991)

The Earl of Caithness

On 9th November, 59 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were repatriated from Hong Kong to Vietnam. This group was made up of so-called double-backers (those who did not qualify as refugees, who volunteered to return to Vietnam from Hong Kong once, thereby benefiting from repatriation payment by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, but who re-entered Hong Kong illegally for a second time, together with members of their family). All were screened again after arrival in Hong Kong and, after appeal, were again determined not to qualify for refugee status under the terms of the 1951 United Nations Convention and its 1967 protocol.

The repatriation was carried out in full accordance with standard international practices, over a two-day period, and in line with the internationally agreed Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA), in particular the provision that all those who are not refugees should return home. On 8th November the illegal immigrants were moved from the Nei Kwu detention centre to a transit centre at Kai Tak airport. On 9th November, they were transported by air to Vietnam. Those returned will spend up to three days in the British financed Co Nhue Transit Centre near Hanoi to obtain identity documents before travelling by bus to their home villages.

The Vietnamese Government have guaranteed that no illegal immigrant who returns to Vietnam will face persecution. They will facilitate the monitoring of all those who return by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and others to ensure that these guarantees are fully respected. In the last two and a half years, more than 11,500 Vietnamese migrants have returned voluntarily to Vietnam from Hong Kong without a single substantiated case of persecution.

Further repatriations will be arranged in the coming weeks. We welcome the fact that of the 160 double-backers whom we had originally intended to return to Vietnam on 9th November, more than half chose to opt for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees voluntary repatriation scheme. There remain almost 63,000 Vietnamese migrants in Hong Kong. We hope that all those determined to be illegal immigrants in Hong Kong will similarly opt to volunteer to return to Vietnam.