Recently however, resettlement opportunities have
decreased, and the number of refugees reaching Hong Kong
from Vietnam, while lower than in the peak year of 1979,
has increased over 1981. The number of refugees in Hong
Kong has, therefore, started to rise again, and indeed,
there are now more boat refugees in Hong Kong than in any
other country in South-East Asia. Consequently the
Hong Kong Government decided last month to house new
arrivals in closed camps, where they will no longer
have the opportunity to seek employment. The intro-
duction of this new policy is no doubt the recent event
to which Miss Shaw refers.
This decision by the Hong Kong Government is understand-
able when one considers that the territory already has
one of the highest population concentrations in the
world, and faces considerable additional pressures as a
result of immigration from mainland China. One cannot
but sympathise with them at having become also the
favourite destination for Vietnamese refugees because of
the attractions of their previous open camp system.
}
However, I can assure Miss Shaw that the Hong Kong
Government and the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees are doing what they can to look after the
refugees and to find resettlement places for them.