Preventive Action for Refugee Producing Situations

102 Chapter 3
return of nonrefugees, provided that the return is voluntary and that the
international community makes available economic assistance. 225 Vietnam's
change of policy now justifies that a screening mechanism might finally be
set up, and mat the return of nonrefugees might be carried out by UNHCR
under international monitoring system and with international assistance. This
assistance to Vietnam should, however, not only be directed toward the
reintegration of returnees but should also cover economically deprived areas
in Vietnam from which people have been leaving. Vietnam's change of
policy appears also to include a softening of its application of article 89 of its
penal code, which deals with the punishment of returnees for having left the
country in a clandestine manner. 226 With these new developments, screening
is now more likely than ever before; this will no doubt have an impact on an
individual's decision whether or not to attempt escape from Vietnam in the
future.
4. Prospects of rescue at sea
The chances of being rescued at sea by international vessels may have influenced
people's decisions to leave Vietnam - particularly in the period
between the Geneva Conference in July 1979 and the mid-1980s, through
which world public opinion was focused on their plight. From September
1979, on several mercy ships were operating in the South China Sea with the
purpose of rescuing Vietnamese boat people in distress. 227 Although some of
these ships had great difficulties in unloading the human cargo they had
rescued 228 until 1979, when UNHCR started to make special ar-
_______________________
225 Nguyen Xuan Oanh, Lecture, Harvard University, 3 October 1988.
226 "Hanoi no longer brands as traitors and criminals those who have applied to leave
the country legally, Sergio Viera de Mello, who directs the efforts of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Asia, said in an interview on returning
from Vietnam." "Hanoi seen willing to take back people," Boston Globe, 2 August
1988.
227 Akuna was operated by Food for the Hungry; Cap Anamur by the German
Committee 'A Ship for Vietnam;' lie de Lumiere by the French Committee 'Un
Bateau pour le Vietnam'; Lysekil by the Egil Nansen Committee of Norway; and
Seasweep by World Vision International.
228 Among the countries in the Asian region, only Singapore, the Philippines, Hong
Kong, and Japan would accept to disembark refugees rescued at sea. Singapore,
however, would not allow any landings of direct arrivals from Vietnam, and from
October 1978 would admit refugees on a resettlement guarantee from a third
country that the entire group would have left Singapore within three months. The
Analytical Discussion 103
rangements to allow speedy procedures for disembarkation, 229 I gathered
evidence from many refugees in Singapore between July 1979 and June 1981
that they had simply taken the opportunity to leave, at times with limited
supplies and unseaworthy boats, in the hope of eventual rescue.
Undoubtedly, the mercy ship rescue operation, as well as the remarkable
sacrifices some commercial ships underwent to rescue boat people, contributed
to saving thousands of lives of people in distress after arduous encounters with
Vietnamese patrols, ruthless pirates, and untold other difficulties. Even with the
rescue operations, we are uncertain now many drowned and never reached safe
shores; 230 without the rescue attempts, the loss and damage to human life
would have unquestionabbly been much higher.
Returning to rescue at sea as a pull factor: Even though I do not suggest that
rescue operations should be stopped, a combination of approaches may provide
a better incentive for Vietnam itself to take action in the situation. The South
China Sea is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Therefore,
commercial vessels will keep navigating in this area. Through the International
Maritime Organization, shipping agents, ship owners, and ship captains may
take note of the continuing need for
landing of Vietnamese rescued by mercy ships was only feasible under exceptional
circumstances.
229 The Disembarkation Resettlement Offer (DISERO), was a pool of visas, originally
negotiated and established by the writer on the basis of 200 visas made available by
the Government of Belgium, "to resettle Vietnamese refugees should they be rescued
by a vessel flying a flag of convenience or of a country which can not reasonably be
expected to resettle refugees." The Norwegian mercy ship Lysekil, on its first rescue
tour, returned to Singapore in July 1979 returned with 259 rescued people on board.
The Norwegian Government appealed to other countries to absorb rescuces from
subsequent mercy voyages. However, Lysekil stopped rescues and switched to
transporting food and other supplies for refugees in the region, so that the 200 visas
that the Belgian Government provided for this purpose could be 'redeployed.' As a
result, more than six hundred people could be safely brought to land with this "safety
valve" by which Belgium gave a guarantee for resettlement to the authorities of
Singapore. In resettling the refugees elsewhere, especially under the family
reunification program, these visas were, in fact, used several times. Subsequently
UNHCR Headquarters replenished this visa pool and added an additional mechanism,
the Rescue at Sea Resettlement Offer (RASRO). During 1986 2,591 refugees were
rescued at sea. Some 1,249 benefited from the RASRO scheme, and a further 292
persons were disembarked under the DISERO Scheme. UN doc. A/Ac. 967 694, 3
August 1987: Note on International Protection, submitted by the High Commissioner,
p. 11.
230 According to UNHCR's estimates, as many as 250,000 people may have drowned.