[NRIAIG]
BACKGROUND
General
CONFIDENTIAL
1.
resettlement,
10,000 Vietnamese
the
South East Asia.
refugees in Hong Kong awaiting
in
largest number of any place of first asylum
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find resettlement places. Several resettlement countries, including the US, have cited the UK's failure to take more refugees from Hong Kong
for reason
this. a major
The UK has accepted some 19,000 Vietnamese for resettlement since 1975, mostly from Hong Kong, but has taken very few from the territory in recent years (88 in 1984; 5 SO far in 1985). We have been severely criticised in Hong Kong for
,
as
this.
Closed camp policy
2.
are
Since July 1982, in order to discourage further Vietname se
have from leaving by boat for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Government been placing all newly arriving Vietnamese refugees in closed camps
from which they
not permitted to seek outside employment.
in Policy has been effective reducing level of arrivals, but
There is
for support strong public
Just over half
total of the
refugee
The rest (ie those who
nevertheless continues.
policy population
in
Hong Kong.
are
currently in
closed
camps.
flow
the
arrived before July 1982) are accommodated in open camps run by the local office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in cooperation with voluntary agencies.
Closed camps conditions
3.
FCO Legal Advisers
accord with HMG's
obligations under
the
consider that the policy
not policy does International Covenant
a rather
fully
on
So far
Civil and Political Rights.
on This advice, which rests obscure legal point, was endorsed by the Attorney General. we have not been forced to admit this publicly. However conditions
to time
in the
camp s
have been
criticised
from time
by MP's,
CONFIDENTIAL