§ Mr. David NicholsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Vietnamese migrants.
§ Mr. GoodladOn 19 June, 38 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were repatriated from Hong Kong to Vietnam on the first flight under the final stage of the orderly repatriation programme. The operation, which was carried out in accordance with international practice, went smoothly.
The group comprised migrants who had arrived in Hong Kong before 29 October 1991. All had undergone the full screening and appeal procedure vetted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and been found not to be refugees.
719WSince the orderly repatriation programme was announced on 29 October 1991, there has been a dramatic drop in the number of arrivals in Hong Kong, accompanied by a surge in applications for voluntary repatriation. We hope that most of the non-refugees still in Hong Kong will now volunteer to return. Already, more than 20,000 non-refugees have returned to Vietnam from the region without a single substantiated case of persecution.
It does no service to the genuine refugee to classify him among those who are merely seeking a better life abroad. The clearing of the Hong Kong camps will enable genuine refugees to be properly looked after and resettled as appropriate.