*
Although it is outside the mandate of the High Commissioner to
assist the local Thai population these voluntary agencies are,
I am sure, sometimes able to help them as well as refugees in
the camps.
It is sometimes a real problem, which we recognise,
that refugees in camps, though by no means living in comfort,
can be better off than the local population in their vicinity.
Hong Kong, which is already overcrowded, is bearing a particularly
heavy burden in coping not only with a steady stream of Vietnamese
who arrive there in their own junks (or who have been rescued at
sea and brought there by merchant vessels) but also with a daily
flow of immigrants from China. The Colony's population has
grown from about half a million in 1945 to 4.7 million now.
omford main. greatly to out of home the Car purzedal somuccessfully
since 1975, the Hong Kong Government have arranged for 4,800
former residents of Vietnam to come to Hong Kong to join close
✓relatives there. A further 5,700 who have made their own way to
the Colony have been allowed to settle even though they had no
✓special claim on Hong Kong. In addition, there are now over V10,000 people who have been granted temporary shelter in the
Colony and who are awaiting resettlement elsewhere. The Hong
Kong Government's policy towards such refugees has been to allow
Vall those who make their way to Hong Kong in their own boats to
land temporarily until they can be resettled in other countries.
Hong Kong has also provided temporary shelter for any refugees
who are picked up at sea by vessels whose first scheduled port
of call is Hong Kong.
The