Six Vietnamese and two police officers were injured. Mr. Speaker. this misguided provision in H.R. 1561 was based on the view that there were serious flaws in the screening process by which the boat peoples claims to political refugee status were evaluated. The intent of this provision is to force a massive rescreening in the camps of all 40.000 camp residents to give them another chance to demonstrate their claim to refugee status. Many objective observers. including some refugee advocates. reject this contention and oppose massive rescreening. Moreover. the Southeast Asian nations where the camps are located have made it clear that they will not countenance a lengthy rescreening process which will delay closure of the camps and could prompt another refugee outflow from Vietnam. It would be naive to think that the screening of tens of thousands of boat people by local officials. even though under close supervision by the UNHOR. could have been accomplished without error or abuse. In fact. this Member has requested UNHCR reconsideration of 15 cases of Vietnamese asylum seekers who would seem to have a plausible case for refugee status. While this Member certainly is willing to intervene when specific cases of possible error are brought to his attention. he opposes strongly massive rescreening of asylum seekers in the refugee camps. Moreover. it appears from information provided by UNHCR and nongovernment organizations monitoring boat people who have returned to Vietnam. that massive rescreening in the camps is not necessary. These organizations attest that there is no credible evidence of persecution of returnees in Vietnam. So why shouldnt the screened out asylum seekers in the camps return to Vietnam? Recent testimony by the American nongovernmental organization [NGO]. World Vision. concludes that screened out boat people have been able to return to Vietnam in safety and dignity.
Keywords matched
asylum seekers refugee