US embassy cable - 05HANOI1940

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