Boat People Abused, Rights Group Says : Hong Kong: Amnesty International urges the government to end forced repatriation of Vietnamese.

Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong suffer beatings by security forces, and many could risk political persecution when they are forced back to their communist homeland, Amnesty International charged today.

The London-based human rights group urged the Hong Kong government to stop its forced repatriation program, which began in December to ease the burden of detaining the refugees.

“The fundamental rights of people who face a genuine risk of persecution are being violated,” said the report, which was based on a recent fact-finding mission to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government called the report “unfounded” and said it remains committed to its policy of sending the Vietnamese home.

Amnesty accused the Hong Kong government of mistreating the 51 boat people who were forcibly returned to Vietnam in December.

It quoted witnesses as saying security forces dragged them from the Chi Ma Wan detention center in a dawn raid on Oct. 31, using kicks, beatings and choke holds.

Hong Kong’s secretary of security, Geoffrey Barnes, said “a minimum of necessary force was used on that occasion.”

“There is no truth whatsoever in the accusation that people at Chi Ma Wan were ill-treated or rendered unconscious,” he said in a statement.

The refugees were then taken to another detention center, the Phoenix House. Early Dec. 12, hundreds of security forces in riot gear brought them to the international airport.

During that operation, reporters did not see any evidence of brutality.

Amnesty’s report also charged the government with quashing investigations of official misconduct in the camps, citing two incidents in which 200 boat people were allegedly beaten and kicked by security forces last year. In the High Island Detention Center, it said, unruly boat people are routinely locked in empty subdivided cargo containers for several days.

The report said many Vietnamese feared that if they spoke up about abuses they faced “possible retribution by the police and risked unfavorable treatment in the screening process.”

Amnesty criticized the screening process to separate refugees with the right to find a new country from “economic migrants,” who will be forced back to Vietnam.

Of the 40,000 Vietnamese awaiting screening, an estimated 85% face forced repatriation. They make up the bulk of boat people who arrived after mid-June, 1988, when Hong Kong stopped automatically granting refugee status.

Under the screening process, boat people are given a hearing with an immigration officer. They can appeal the decision once.

As of Tuesday, 7,567 Vietnamese had been refused refugee status, and 1,889 had lost appeals. So far, 997 have voluntarily returned to Vietnam.