Leaders Seek Vietnamese Holding Centers to Stall Repatriations

Unable to persuade Hong Kong, Thailand and other “first asylum” countries to change their plans to screen Vietnamese refugees, Southern California Vietnamese leaders said Saturday that they will focus new attention on establishing regional holding centers to prevent people from being sent back to Vietnam against their will.

Returning from the International Conference on Indochinese Refugees in Geneva, the local delegates representing Orange County’s estimated 100,000 Vietnamese said that the fate of tens of thousands of refugees in detention camps throughout Southeast Asia remains uncertain because most of the countries housing the refugees have refused to reject the policy of forced repatriation.

These first-asylum countries--Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and British-governed Hong Kong--account for more than 66,000 Vietnamese “boat people” who fled their country hoping to immigrate to the West.

The conference, attended by more than 70 nations, was convened to discuss common strategies in dealing with the refugees, and served as a forum for expatriate Vietnamese groups such as those from Southern California to press for reforms.

Tom Wilson, a Tustin High School physics teacher whose Vietnamese wife is in a refugee camp along the Thai-Cambodian border, was a member of a group from Orange County that traveled to Geneva in the hope of bringing about change.

Wilson, who is active in the UCI-based refugee-assistance group Project Pearl, said the local delegation distributed a resolution opposing both “screening” and forced repatriation policies used by some governments.

Under the screening process, adopted by Hong Kong where nearly 30,000 Vietnamese have fled, refugees can be declared “economic migrants” instead of political refugees and be told to return to Vietnam.

“It breaks my heart to see people who put their lives on the line to flee be sent back,” Wilson said. “The rule of thumb in Vietnam is if you flee, the chances are only 1 in 3 you will live through it, and still people are leaving. The screening process is spurious.”

“We basically lost our stand as far as screening,” he added. “We were trying to take the moral high ground. Screening implies forced repatriation.”

In addition to Wilson, others attending the conference were Irvine residents and Project Pearl activists Lam Vu, Van-Khanh Le and My-Nga Le; Ban Binh Bui, an official of the Council for Refugee Rights and a Westminster businessman; and Santa Ana resident Thai Dinh of the SOS Boat People Committee.

The international conference reached no consensus, but the countries housing the refugees all indicated that screening would continue and some indicated they would resort to forced repatriation for the “economic migrants.”

Wilson said a new strategy will now have to be developed, one that most likely would focus on the establishment of regional holding centers in the “first-asylum” countries and operated by international organizations.

“At least with an international organization running it, you have some assurance of a non-hostile environment,” he said.

One idea, Wilson said, would be to have those declared “economic migrants” to spend a period of time in the holding centers, after which they would become eligible to be permanently resettled in other countries with relatives, friends or loved ones.

“We just want to avoid them being sent back if they don’t want to go,” he said.

Wilson said the Southern California Vietnamese leaders were joined by Vietnamese leaders from across Europe opposed to forced repatriation. There were hunger strikes and demonstrations and statements of support from both the United States and the Vatican, he said.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) was a member of the U.S. delegation and spoke strongly against any policy under which people were forced to return to Vietnam against their will.

As for Vietnam, its delegates said they would not accept people forced back by other countries, only those who chose to return voluntarily. The dilemma, Wilson said, is the thousands of people stuck in camps and holding centers, unwanted both by the host countries and the Western nations that have resettled thousands of others.

Van Thai Tran, a UC Irvine student and former legislative coordinator of Project Pearl, said the outcome of the conference was disappointing but no surprise.

“When we embarked on this project three months ago we knew it would not be easy,” he said. “We are talking about international policies of countries that could care less about democratic principles. But morally, we could not sit on our hands and do nothing. We were once former refugees ourselves not so long ago.

“We just had to jump up and take advantage and scream and yell and do whatever we can so these governments will hear us. At least they will know where we stand, that we want freedom and a new life for these people.”