RESTRICTED
XCRI(78)20
2
indefinitely. The opportunity to secure international recognition of the problem occurred in July 1976 when the Burmese-registered freighter "AVA" arrived with 98 refugees. They were refused permission to land and kept on board whilst negotiations were entered into with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to establish ground rules for the acceptance of refugees in Hong Kong. The UNHCR eventually gave a categorical undertaking of responsibility, i.e. to maintain the refugees during their stay in Hong Kong and to use their best endeavours to find permanent homes for them overseas. Accordingly, the refugees were allowed a temporary stay of three months pending resettlement.
5
Since the "AVA" the UNHCR has given similar undertakings for the 3, 200 refugees who have been allowed to land. The majority were subsequently resettled within three months of arrival.
6
To reduce the demands made on Hong Kong it was later decided to limit acceptance of refugees, in principle, to those who
(a) arrive directly in their own small boats or
(b) are picked up at sea by ships whose first scheduled
port of call is Hong Kong.
A few exceptions have been made on humanitarian or safety grounds, e.g. for refugees on a small tug-boat bound for Japan at slow speed. Transit facilities have also been arranged to allow refugees from two ships which had not been due to call at Hong Kong to be flown within a few days to the countries under whose flag the ships were sailing (Norway and the UK).
Present Position
7
By the beginning of May 1978 the number of refugees awaiting resettlement had fallen to only 241. Since then, however, the problem has become much greater, with the arrival of 42 groups totalling 1, 744 persons. Whereas earlier groups were mainly Vietnamese, approximately 54% of recent arrivals have been ethnic Chinese. However, there has been no change in their desired final destination which in nearly every case, is the USA (and no racial distinctions are made by UNHCR or the Americans in handling applications for resettlement). By 25th July 1978, a total of 6, 962 Vietnamese boat refugees had arrived in Hong Kong and 5, 088 had been resettled. Tables showing a breakdown of arrivals and A, B departures of Vietnamese boat refugees are at Annexes A and B.
G.S. 84
RESTRICTED