REFUGEE STATUS DETERMINATION
After 1989, the United Nations determined a cut -off date for each refugee camp. Any person arriving after that cut-off date would not be considered a refugee and would have to prove that they had a well-founded fear of persecution. The challenge was therefore to establish rules in order to screen new arrivals and determine whether they could be eligible to refugee status. There was however an important difference between theory and practice.
The purpose of this activity is to understand the discrepancy between general principles in refugee status determination, and how it happens in practice. In 1989, the United Nations introduced the Comprehensive Plan of Action, creating guidelines for determining the status for all persons arriving in camps after the cut-off date. States, the UNHCR, and NGOs all played a role in the process of collecting data, informing and interviewing asylum seekers, in order to establish whether they had a well-founded fear of persecution. Any person failing the interview would be encouraged to voluntarily repatriate. Any remaining population would be forcibly repatriated to Vietnam.
Documents
Instructions
You will be assigned one document : “Status Determination Procedure”, by the Government of Hong Kong, “Understanding the Refugee Status Determination Process”, by the Jesuit Refugee Service Lawyer Project, or “A Subtle Form of Inhumanity: Screening of the Boat People in Hong Kong,” by Daniel Wolf.
Read the text. Once in the group discussion you will summarize the main points to the rest of the group:
“Status Determination Procedure”, by the Government of Hong Kong”:
– How does the government of Hong Kong explain the background? How does it justify this new procedure?
– What is their philosophy?
– What is the procedure? What are the guarantees that the procedure is fair to the asylum seekers?
“Understanding the Refugee Status Determination Process”, by the Jesuit Refugee Service Lawyer Project
– Who is the author of the document?
– What is the purpose of the document? Who is this brochure written for?
– Why does the brochure insists on point 4?
“A Subtle Form of Inhumanity: Screening of the Boat People in Hong Kong”, by Daniel Wolf
– Who is Mr. Phan Hai?
– Could Mr. Phan Hai have a well-founded fear of persecution?
– How was his status determined? Can you explain the process?
Further Readings
Helton, Arthur C. “Judicial Review of the Refugee Status, Determination Procedure for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong.” Brooklyn Journal of International Law 17, no. 2 (1991): 263–91.
International Journal of Refugee Law, Special Issue 1990.
Robinson, Courtland. “The Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees, 1989–1997: Sharing the Burden and Passing the Buck.” Journal of Refugee Studies 17, no. 3 (2004): 319–33.