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BACKGROUND NOTE
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
Hong Kong Government Policy
1.
The Hong Kong Government accept for permanent settlement any Vietnamese refugees with close relatives already resident in the territory. They also provide temporary asylum, pending resettle- ment in third countries, to any refugees who arrive in their own small boats. Previously, they also accepted temporarily any refugees who were brought to Hong Kong after being picked up at sea by ocean-going vessels for which Hong Kong was the next port of call. But in view of the very large numbers of refugees in Hong Kong, the government have now decided that in such cases they can only accept the refugees if the country of the vessel's registra- tion gives a guarantee to accept them for resettlement.
Numbers
2.
There were about 5,000 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong at the beginning of the year. A further 73,054 have arrived since. Only about 14,000 have so far left for resettlement, leaving 64,107 on 23 October still waiting in Hong Kong. Although the territory has received 35% of the boat refugees, only 15% of resettlement offers from third countries have been allocated to Hong Kong.
The Role of the UNHCR
3. In 1978, the UNHCR undertook to accept full responsibility for all refugees given temporary asylum in Hong Kong. The rapid rise in numbers in the first half of 1979 however left them without sufficient funds or manpower to honour this commitment, and the Hong Kong Government were forced to assume a large part of the
The UNHCR have now responsibility at a cost of US$13 million. allocated increased resources to Hong Kong and have again agreed,
The with effect from 1 September, to assume full responsibility. Hong Kong Government still fear, however, that the UNHCR's proposed allocation for the rest of 1979 and for 1980 will be inadequate to meet the likely costs.