INTERNATIONAL policy on repatriating Vietnamese boat people is set to be revised at a United Nations meeting later this year.
Hardline measures, including speeding up forced repatriation and further cutting of resettlement grants for those who delay volunteering to return, are likely to be on the agenda as the international community discusses whether to retain the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA), sources said yesterday.
A full meeting of the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees is understood to be planned at the Geneva headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Hong Kong's Acting Refugee Co-ordinator Eddy Chan Yuk-tak said the Government would accept an invitation to the talks and Security Panel convenor Elsie Tu called for legislators to be allowed to attend.
About 38,000 Vietnamese migrants are still in Hong Kong's detention centres. The UNHCR owes the Government more than $881 million for their upkeep.
Greater international support for the controversial forced repatriation policy and any other measure which would increase the rate of departures from the detention centres would, in time, lead to financial savings for Hong Kong as well as freeing staff and resources to address domestic problems such as chronic prison overcrowding.
A preparatory meeting between heads of UNHCR missions throughout the region including Hong Kong's Robert Van Leeuwen was held last week in Jakarta, fuelling speculation that a broader policy-making forum was to be convened.