7.
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..11.
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
Hong Kong Government Policy
1. The Hong Kong Government provide temporary refuge, pending
permanent resettlement elsewhere by UNHCR, for all refugees who reach
4.
the territory in their own boats or are brought there after being
picked up at sea by vessels for whom Hong Kong is the next scheduled
port of call (in view of present overcrowding in Hong Kong, they
may no longer automatically accept the first port of call principle).
Numbers of Refugees
*
2. On 3 July, there were 59,718 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong
awaiting resettlement. Because of the processing delays (partly
due to shortage of staff in the UNHCR office) only 14,686 of them
were under UNHCR care.
3.
59,137 have arrived in Hong Kong this year. Only 5,003 have
been sent on by UNHCR to countries of permanent settlement.
"
Action by Hong Kong Government
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4. The Hong Kong Government have introduced tough new laws to deter
trafficking in refugees (the trial of the Captain and 11 others
associated with the Huey Fong, which brought. 3,400 refugees to
Hong Kong in January, is now in process). The Governor, after
discussions with Ministers in London, has met American officials in
Washington, the UN Secretary-General in New York, and the UNHCR in
Geneva, and impressed on them the seriousness of Hong Kong's problems.
As there is no space on shore over five thousand are still in their boats.
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