More than 1,000 people came forward for voluntary repatriation in the last week of October alone. By the end of the year, the total population in the two detention centers for Vietnamese non-refugees in Hong Kong Whitehead and High Island fell to 5,500. It was then decided to transport these people to High Island and to close Whitehead on 3 January 1997, except for the two holding centers for those awaiting voluntary repatriation. That s still a large number, but those of us who have seen Whitehead alone crammed with more than 20,000 people can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. More than 105,000 Vietnamese have returned to Viet Nam from detention centers in the region so far.
Economic difficulties are the overriding concern of most returnees.
Reports from our offices in Viet Nam indicate that returnees who did not choose to volunteer and were repatriated under the Hong Kong government s Orderly Return Program are sorry they did not avail of the extra financial assistance available to volunteers. I was recently told by a monitoring officer in Hanoi that he had to witness the embarrassing spectacle of a young man being upbraided by his mother for not returning voluntarily and thereby denying himself the assistance. What the returnees are assured of, however, is their safety. We have been satisfied that Viet Nam has abided by its agreements on the treatment of returnees. Indeed, our presence in Viet Nam has convinced many of the boat people to return home, and it plays a big role in our efforts to promote voluntary repatriation in Hong Kong.