FM Spokeswoman on UNHCR's halt to the repatriation
On Feb. 25, 2002, MOFA's Spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh answered question from many correspondents: Please provide Viet Nam's reaction to reports that the UNHCR temporarily halted the repatriation of Central Highland ethnic illegal border crossers back to Vietnam.
Answer:
According to foreign sources, the UNHCR recently announced a temporary halt to the repatriation of the Central Highland ethnic illegal border crossers to Cambodia. The UNHCR cited some reasons. The first reason is that "Vietnam and Cambodia failed to respect the 21 January 2002 tripartite agreement between Vietnam, Cambodia and the UNHCR when Vietnam and Cambodia agreed to complete the repatriation of ethnic illegal border crossers to Cambodia no later than the arrival of the rainy season of 2002".The second reason is "Vietnam sent a delegation of government officials to visit these people at the camps Cambodia"!
With regard to the first reason, we find it necessary to assert that the tripartite agreement set 31 May 2002 as the time for a review of the entire repatriation process. That Vietnam and Cambodia expressed determination to strive and cooperate with the UNHCR to return these people to their homes before the arrival of the rainy season is totally within time frame set by the tripartite agreement. This act is prompted by the reality that these people are now a leading a difficult, insufficient and disease-stricken life, which will become really terrible when the rainy season arrives and it is also extremely hard to take them back home during the rainy season. If the UNHCR is prompted by its motto and objectives, namely humanitarianism, it should coordinate with Vietnam and Cambodia to soon complete the repatriation before the arrival of the rainy season rather than use this issue as a pretext to stop or delay the implementation of the said agreement.
With regard to the second reason, we hold that the UNHCR itself has come to understand that these people are Vietnamese citizens, most of them want to come back home and they are not refugees whatsoever. Therefore, local authorities and relatives of the illegal border crossers to Cambodia naturally take responsibility over their citizens and beloved ones respectively. A delegation of local officials and the would-be returnees' relatives conducted a visit to provide them with accurate and full information on the situation back home as well as the announced policies of the Vietnamese government toward them. This totally conforms to the objectives and humanitarian spirit of the tripartite agreement. The visit was conducted in the presence of UNHCR officials, thus it was transparent and the UNHCR has no reason to worry about it. What is surprising is that the compatriots in these camps hardly knew about the content of the tripartite agreement. Moreover, on many previous occasions, diplomatic officials of a country which is not directly involved in the tripartite agreement visited the camps and made ill-will remarks, contrary to the spirit of the tripartite agreement and the UNHCR made no comments thereon.
In order for the repatriation process to take place in a favorable and prompt manner as desired by the parties concerned, Vietnam is ready to discuss with the UNHCR and Cambodia to seek specific and practical measures and remove unnecessary obstacles in the implementation of the tripartite agreement.
