US embassy cable - 05HANOI991

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000991 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV AND PRM, BANGKOK FOR REFUGEE 
COORDINATOR, GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, PREF, VM, CB, HUMANR, ETMIN 
SUBJECT: UNHCR BRIEFS ON MONTAGNARDS 
 
Reftels: A) Hanoi 215, B) Phnom Penh 602, C) Hanoi 921 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  UNHCR Regional Representative Hasim Utkan 
told the Ambassador April 26 that the Tripartite Memorandum 
of Understanding (MOU) (Ref A) is helping to speed the 
resettlement of asylum-seeking Central Highlanders currently 
in Cambodia.  The UNHCR is still faced with the problems of 
"refuseniks," who are offered asylum abroad but will not 
leave Cambodia.  The UNHCR believes that the return of these 
individuals to Vietnam would not constitute refoulement. 
However, it is trying to assuage concern voiced by the 
refuseniks about family members remaining in Vietnam, while 
making clear that a return home is the likely outcome if 
they continue to refuse resettlement.  The UNHCR hopes this 
will be enough to convince the refuseniks to make a decision 
to go abroad or return to Vietnam.  The GVN continues to 
reject a monitoring trip to previous returnees and has not 
agreed to UNHCR requests to place an expatriate staff member 
in Hanoi.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Utkan began the April 26 meeting by briefing the 
Ambassador on the breakdown of Central Highlands ethnic 
minority migrants being processed in Phnom Penh.  According 
to the UNHCR's figures, there are 667 persons under its 
protection divided among four sites in Phnom Penh.  Of 
these, 498 persons have received recognition as refugees, 26 
have first instance rejections, 22 have cases pending, 17 
have been identified as "humanitarian cases" due largely to 
family ties in the United States and 104 have had their 
asylum claims rejected.  Among the 498 given recognition, 
137 are the so-called refuseniks.  In addition, since the 
MOU was signed, 35 individuals have been voluntarily 
repatriated to Vietnam, 82 have been resettled abroad, and 
18 have been identified to be Cambodian.  Utkan noted that 
there have been forty-two new arrivals since the signing of 
the MOU, although the majority of these had already crossed 
the border and were hiding in the Cambodian jungle when the 
MOU was signed.  (Post will fax to BCLTV UNHCR's fact 
sheet.) 
 
3. (SBU) In all of 2004 there were only 78 individuals 
settled abroad, so resolving 82 cases in less than three 
months shows that the MOU process is effective, Utkan 
claimed.  Looking ahead, the UNHCR expects to resettle 29 
Montagnards to Finland and nine to Canada in May, and an 
undetermined number to Finland and the United States in 
June.  It is also seeking to expand resettlement to other 
countries.  New Zealand will send a mission to Phnom Penh to 
view processing, with an eye to accepting cases in 2006. 
The United Kingdom considered accepting cases, but 
determined that the UNHCR's criteria for resettlement of 
Montagnards were "a bit low." 
 
4. (SBU) The 137 refuseniks pose the biggest problem to the 
UNHCR, Utkan admitted.  This number has dropped from 350, 
but the remaining 137 are "hard core."  Furthermore, 
discrepancies between their stories of oppression and their 
personal histories lead the UNHCR to believe that many of 
them are being coached.  The refuseniks "do not believe that 
anything will happen to them" as a result of their refusal 
to go abroad or return to Vietnam.  However, the UNHCR is 
hopeful that beginning the repatriation of some of the 
individuals whose asylum claims were rejected will show the 
refusenicks that the possibility of return is real, and this 
will "break the logjam." 
 
5. (SBU) There is no precedent for individuals being offered 
asylum but refusing to depart to a host country while still 
expressing fear of returning home.  Currently, the UNHCR's 
view is that, if these individuals have been offered asylum, 
refused it, been counseled repeatedly on the potential 
impact of refusing asylum but still continued to refuse it, 
then they have effectively declined the assistance of the 
UNHCR in their cases.  Therefore, the UNHCR position is that 
returning them to Vietnam would not constitute refoulement. 
The UNHCR is a "highly legalistic organization," Utkan 
explained, and its lawyers are currently carrying out an 
internal debate over whether it can withdraw refugee status 
bestowed on an individual without evidence of 
misrepresentation. 
 
6. (SBU) The UNHCR is sensitive to criticisms of human 
rights groups that allege that individuals returned to 
Vietnam have suffered repercussions.  The Special 
Representative of the Secretary General for Human Rights in 
Cambodia has suggested that failure to protect the 
refuseniks after having granted them refugee status would 
amount to the acceptance of refoulement.  Some human rights 
groups have suggested that Cambodia is obliged to provide 
asylum to the refuseniks if they reject resettlement to 
third countries.  Utkan argued that this is not the case, 
and that resettlement in Cambodia is undesirable due to the 
inability of that country to provide for them financially. 
Vietnam has indicated to the UNHCR that it would not object 
to the refuseniks' staying in Cambodia so long as they are 
not put in camps.  Utkan theorized that Vietnam has put 
forth this position to distance itself from criticism if 
Cambodia begins forcible repatriations. 
 
7. (SBU) Utkan noted that some of the refuseniks appeared 
reluctant to resettle in a distant country while their 
relatives remained in Vietnam.  The UNHCR raised this at the 
April 11 technical meeting in Phnom Penh (Ref B), and was 
assured by the GVN that there are "no barriers to 
individuals leaving Vietnam."  UNHCR hopes to use some 
family reunification cases for individuals being settled in 
Finland to test this, and believes that a successful result 
will help to reduce the number of refuseniks.  The 
Ambassador recounted the difficulties the USG is having with 
follow-to-join cases from the Central Highlands being able 
to acquire personal documents. 
 
8. (SBU) Utkan acknowledged that the UNHCR has exceeded the 
original one-month period defined in the MOU during which 
the refuseniks had to make a decision to settle abroad or 
return to Vietnam.  The GVN is not pressuring the UNHCR on 
this, however, and while the Cambodians sent a diplomatic 
note on April 25 stating they planned to repatriate this 
group, Utkan believed that the problem would be worked out 
and the Cambodians would hold off. 
 
9. (SBU) The 104 individuals with rejected cases have all 
had "several reviews" of their situation and the threshold 
for asylum is "very low," so the UNHCR does not consider 
them to be controversial.  The UNHCR is discouraging 
Cambodia from returning them to Vietnam until after it can 
conduct a monitoring visit to the Central Highlands, 
however. 
 
10. (SBU) During his current trip to Hanoi, Utkan met with 
ranking Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Cong Phung.  He 
described this high-level reception as a significant sign of 
how the tone of UNHCR-GVN relations has improved.  The UNHCR 
is still seeking approval for a monitoring visit to the 
first returnees (Ref C).  VFM Phung told Utkan he had "taken 
a positive stance" on the trip, so Utkan is hopeful it will 
happen soon.  The UNHCR also believes a midterm review, 
originally scheduled take place April 27 and 28 in Geneva, 
will get back on track, despite the Cambodians declining in 
writing to attend.  The GVN has expressed a willingness to 
participate.  Utkan expressed frustration over the continued 
lack of approval for the placing of an expatriate staff 
member at UNHCR's offices in Hanoi.  In January, the UNHCR 
had been given assurances by the GVN that approval would 
come soon.  The UNHCR had selected a candidate with 
experience in Vietnam and embarked on the process of 
agrement.  The Ambassador noted that the delay likely had 
nothing to do with the individual selected, but rather with 
the concept of the UNHCR having expatriate staff in Vietnam. 
Utkan closed by saying that "international presence and 
international monitoring" were the two issues he had 
stressed with VFM Phung.  The GVN must end its "monopoly of 
information on the Central Highlands." 
 
MARINE