IB History Role of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Including the Orderly Departure Program Notes

The UNHCR and International Agreements: Two Conferences Shaped the Entire Crisis Response

UNHCR's coordinating role

1. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) became the central international body coordinating the response to the Indochinese refugee crisis.
   1. Its role included managing camps, registering refugees, negotiating with governments, and facilitating resettlement and repatriation.
2. UNHCR did not run every camp directly.
   1. In many cases, it worked alongside host governments, non-governmental organisations, and other UN agencies.
   2. But it served as the primary broker between first asylum countries (who wanted fewer refugees) and resettlement countries (who controlled how many they would accept).

The 1979 Geneva Conference on Indochinese Refugees

1. By mid-1979, the crisis had reached a breaking point.
   1. Boat arrivals surged.
   2. First asylum countries threatened to push refugees back to sea.
   3. Malaysia warned it would shoot arrivals on sight.
2. The 1979 Geneva Conference on Indochinese Refugees, convened by the UN Secretary-General in July 1979, brought together 65 governments.
   1. It produced three key outcomes.
3. First, resettlement countries agreed to dramatically increase their intake quotas.
   1. The US, for example, doubled its monthly admissions.
   2. Second, Vietnam pledged to curb illegal departures and cooperate with an orderly emigration program.
   3. Third, first asylum countries agreed to continue accepting new arrivals, provided the international community kept resettling them.
4. The conference worked in the short term.
   1. Boat departures dropped sharply in the second half of 1979 and into 1980.
   2. But they rose again in the mid-1980s as conditions in Vietnam remained difficult.

The Orderly Departure Program (1979)

1. The 1979 conference also created the Orderly Departure Program (ODP).
   1. The ODP created a legal channel for Vietnamese to emigrate directly from Vietnam to resettlement countries, bypassing the dangerous sea journeys that killed thousands.
2. Under the ODP, UNHCR acted as intermediary between the Vietnamese government and receiving countries.
   1. Applicants applied from within Vietnam.
   2. If approved, they flew to their destination country rather than risking a boat crossing.
3. The ODP processed several categories of people: those with family members already abroad, former re-education camp detainees, Amerasian children, and others with ties to resettlement countries.
   1. The United States was by far the largest ODP destination.

ODP limitations and problems

1. The ODP was a breakthrough in principle but slow in practice.
   1. Processing was bureaucratic and could take years.
   2. The Vietnamese government controlled who was allowed to apply, sometimes blocking or delaying cases for political reasons.
2. Because the ODP was slow, many Vietnamese continued to leave by boat even after the program started.
   1. The program reduced illegal departures but did not eliminate them.
   2. Boat people continued to arrive in Southeast Asian countries throughout the 1980s.

The Comprehensive Plan of Action (1989)

1. By the late 1980s, a new crisis had emerged.
   1. Boat arrivals surged again, but resettlement countries were no longer willing to accept all arrivals automatically.
   2. Many governments argued that the new wave included large numbers of economic migrants rather than refugees fleeing persecution.
2. The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA), agreed at a second international conference in June 1989, addressed this problem.
   1. It had three main provisions.
3. First, all new arrivals would be individually screened to determine whether they were genuine refugees.
   1. This replaced the previous assumption that all Vietnamese boat people were refugees by default.
   2. Second, those screened in as refugees would be resettled in third countries.
   3. Third, those screened out (classified as economic migrants) would be returned to Vietnam.

Screening, repatriation, and controversy

1. The CPA's screening process was controversial from the start.
   1. UNHCR was responsible for monitoring the screenings, but host governments conducted them.
   2. Standards varied between countries.
   3. Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines each applied the criteria differently.
2. Repatriation drew the strongest criticism.
   1. The CPA called for voluntary repatriation, but many screened-out individuals refused to return.
   2. Some first asylum countries, particularly Hong Kong, resorted to forced repatriation.

Camp closures and the end of the crisis

1. The CPA gradually achieved its goal of winding down the camps.
   1. Boat arrivals dropped as word spread that new arrivals would be screened and potentially returned.
   2. By the early 1990s, more people were being repatriated than resettled.
2. Most camps closed between 1994 and 1997.
   1. The last significant camp, Pillar Point in Hong Kong, closed in 2000.
   2. By that point, roughly 109,000 Vietnamese had been repatriated under the CPA, while about 74,000 had been resettled.
3. UNHCR's role evolved throughout the crisis: from coordinating emergency response in the late 1970s, to managing the politically sensitive process of screening and repatriation in the 1990s.