INTERNATIONAL MONITORING OF RETURNED MIGRANTS

UNCLAS HANOI 001940

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM CB VM ETMIN HUMANR
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL MONITORING OF RETURNED MIGRANTS

REF: Hanoi 1865 and previous.


1. (SBU) Summary: UNHCR's Vietnamese Chief of Mission
returned from the Central Highlands where he met 30 of the
94 recently repatriated ethnic minority migrants. They are
in good condition and being treated well, he said. The
regional representative from UNHCR based in Bangkok will
visit Ho Chi Minh City, the Central Highlands, and Hanoi
next week and will also meet the returnees. Embassy and
ConGen officers will meet the UNHCR representative before
and after his trip to the Central Highlands. U.S. Mission
officers will also seek to go to the Central Highlands in
September for a follow-up visit to meet with the returned
migrants. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Poloff spoke to Vu Anh Son, Chief of Mission, UNHCR
Hanoi in Hanoi July 29. Son was just back from Bangkok,
where he participated in a training session on refugee
rights and refugee law for Thai, Lao and Vietnamese
officials, including Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and
Ministry of Public Security (MPS) representatives. Before
that (July 22) Son had been in Pleiku in the Central
Highlands province of Gia Lai. In Pleiku, he met with 30 of
the 94 screened-out ethnic minority migrants who were
repatriated from Cambodia on July 20.


3. (SBU) Son said he met the migrants at the reception
center, which is run by the Department of Trade and Tourism,
in Pleiku. Son was given permission to visit freely with
the 34 migrants who were still there, and had time to meet
30 of them; he said 56 of them had already returned to their
villages in Gia Lai. (An additional four are residents of
Kon Tum province and were not received in Pleiku.) Son said
he was not observed or accompanied by GVN officials other
than the provincial officials working on providing food,
medicine, documents and clothing to the migrants.


4. (SBU) Son said the attitudes of the migrants he spoke
with ranged from "happy to be back" to "apprehensive about
the reception they might find in their home villages." He
noted that he was completely free to talk to anyone he
wanted for as long as he wanted, without any intrusion or
eavesdropping by officials. As far as Son could tell, the
migrants were being treated well; they had received food and
were receiving medical care from doctors and nurses who were
provincial employees. Most, he said, had received new
clothes.


5. (SBU) Poloff also spoke July 28 with Bhairaja Panday,
UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative for Thailand, Cambodia,
Laos and Vietnam. Panday confirmed that UNHCR Regional
Representative Hasim Utkan will visit Vietnam, including the
Central Highlands, August 1-4. Utkan will arrive in Ho Chi
Minh City and join Vietnam Chief of Mission Son August 1,
meet with ConGen officials the morning of August 2, then fly
to Pleiku. Utkan and Son will then visit returned migrants
in Gia Lai. They will return to Hanoi August 5, and will
meet with Ambassador Marine before Utkan returns to Bangkok.


6. (SBU) ConGen Ho Chi Minh City had planned to send a team
(to include a political officer and a representative from
the Refugee Resettlement Section) in early August to meet
with the returnees; however, in light of the visit by the
UNHCR representative next week, we believe it will be more
effective to postpone that visit by one month in order to
space out the international presence in the Central
Highlands and contact with the migrants. So far, the GVN
has presented no resistance to UNHCR efforts to meet with
the migrants. MPS officials told Hanoi Poloff that MPS has
"no problem" with the USG visit in principle, though we will
still have to solicit permission from local officials. MFA
officials have said they will facilitate a visit. We have
yet to test GVN willingness by submitting the necessary
written notification to visit Gia Lai and asking to meet
with local officials and ethnic minority returnees.

MARINE