of the immigration Ordinance, a detainee (amongst others), may lodge an "objection" to
a decision with the Colonial Secretary and the objection will be considered by the
Governor or by the Governor-in-Council. There are three main weaknesses in this
procedura:
1) The detainee is in effect appealing to the Government of Hong Kong
against the decision of the Government of Hong Kong; so it appears that the
appeal is not being considered objectively by an independent body;
2)
If a detainee lodges such an objection under Section 53(1) the Director
of Immigration is by Section 28 empowered to detain tha person until the objection
is determined by the Governor or Governor-in-Council.
3)
There is no time limit within which the objection must be determined, so
fer with
hon wit, ela.
there is no specific time limit to his dolention.
Thus a detainee who lodges an objection may feel he is choosing "a remedy
worse than the disease". This appears to have beon so with some of tha 119 rafugeet from
Vietnam who lodged objecțions but did not receive an adequate reply bafore their removal
In the early hours of Monday, 17th Juna,
The Power to remove a person from Hong Kong contained in Baction 18 of the
Immigration Ordinance is also open to criticism. Under this Section, the Director of
Immigration need not give advance notice to a detainee or his legal advisers that the
detainee is going to be removed. Further, no such notice was actually given to the 119
Vietnamese refugees. The Government's failure to give such notice had serious repercussion
have Firstly, Mr. Martin Ennals of "Amnesty International" In London was to el a meeting
with Sir Murray MacLehose, the Covernor, during the wack of 17th Juno. This mection
was provented because the detainees ware removed hurriedly without advance notice and
therefore before the planned meeting could take place. Secondly, Members of Parliament
including Mr. Bon Ford, who wished to take up the matter with the Minister of State at the
Pardons C[ED, Wega praventai fini sa change illalle, legal andyluars for regnt of thes
detainees, who had bean given to understand that they would be informed before a
2.