CENTRE FOR THE PROGRESS OF PEOPLES
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ASIA-PACIFIC
A SERVICE FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE
URGENT: Hong Kong Government Refused Visa Extension of Justice.
Research Worker. Immediate Support Action Required.
Jan. 22, 1982.
Reed 2850
Thank you for your continued concern and support on various issues over the past year.
I'd like now to bring to your immediate attenti on and action the second known case, within a period of about six months, of the Hong Kong Government's efforts of actually eliminating justice workers operating from the Colony.
Ms. Christine Vertucci, co-director of the Asia Monitor Resource Center, has been refused an extension of her employment visa for what appear to be political reasons.
We wish to ask your help in a letter campaign to support Chris' appeal to the Hong Kong Government to allow her to continue her work in Hong Kong.
Please act NOW!
In solidarity,
Peter Zhang.
A POLITICAL DECISION :
At 4.30 this afternoon (Jan. 22), Chris was informed by Hong Kong 's Immigration Department that her application for employment visa extension would not be renewed. No reason was given for the deci sion which was withheld from Chris until the last hour of the last day before her visa was to expire. It was also the last working day before the long Chinese New Year holidays. Chris had been awaiting the decision since December 18, 1981, the day she filed her application for extension. Chris has come from the U.S. to work with Asia Monitor, a research and documentation center focusing on issues of economic justice, for four years now. She is also a lawyer.
she
Because has committed no offense against the Laws of Hong Kong, we can only assume that the Immigration Department's decision was a political one.
The issues in which Chris has been involved which might have prompted the Hong Kong government's decision were those concerning human rights. Her work has been on these issues:
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