Resolution 1000 (1993) on Vietnamese Migrants and Asylum-Seekers in Hong Kong (Boat People)
- Document source:
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Date:
14 May 1993
i.the European Community, and UNHCR, where applicable:
a.to maintain their assistance programmes in the camps and in Vietnam beyond November 1994 and to ensure that these apply to all returnees and inmates;
b.to encourage European companies to invest in Vietnam in so far as such investment contributes to the democratisation of the country;
c.to improve their information services in the refugee camps so as to ensure more complete coverage, more frequent presentations and more authentic video productions;
ii.the Hong Kong Government:
a.to reduce overcrowding and lack of privacy in the refugee camps by dispersing residents as the camps become depleted;
b.to ensure that all remaining migrants are provided with legal representation, are permitted to appear before the Refugee Status Review Board, are provided with a copy of their interview record and the reasons for the decision at the time they are notified of it, and that tape recordings of their interviews are made;
c.to introduce more discretion into the screening process;
d.to establish a permanent consultative process between UNHCR, the Hong Kong Immigration Department, the Refugee Status Review Board and representatives of lawyers and non-governmental organisations acting for migrants, to ensure the strict application of the screening procedure in conformity with international standards;
iii.the Vietnamese Government:
a.to continue to facilitate access to returnees by Amnesty International and other bona fide human rights organisations which so request in order to verify their safety;
b.to publish the actual text of its 1992 guarantee that returnees will suffer no persecution;
c.to end all censorship of the media, the postal services and the international press;
d.to introduce fair and open trial for political and religious dissenters and an amnesty for all "prisoners of conscience";
e.to develop contacts and dialogue with Vietnamese "exile" organisations abroad to discuss the conditions necessary to encourage their return with a view to contributing to national reconciliation and the reconstruction of a new Vietnam;
iv.the United States of America to lift its trade embargo so as to allow the normalisation of Vietnam's relations with the international financial institutions.
[1] Assembly debate on 14 May 1993 (37th Sitting) (see Doc. 6818, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, Rapporteur: Mr Atkinson; and Doc.6820, opinion of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur: Mr Panov).
Text adopted by the Assembly on 14 May 1993 (37th Sitting).
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