[NRIAIG]
BACKGROUND
General
CONFIDENTIAL
1.
10,000 Vietnamese
refugees in Hong Kong awaiting
resettlement, the largest number of any place of first asylum in
South East Asia. 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
a major reason for this. 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
this.
as
Closed camp policy
2.
have
Since July 1982, in order to discourage further Vietnamese from leaving by boat for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Government been placing all newly arriving Vietnamese refugees in closed camps not permitted to seek outside employment.
in reducing level of arrivals, but flow
i s There
strong public
over half
are
from which they Policy has been effective
nevertheless
policy population
in
continues.
Hong Kong.
Just
are
currently in
the
for support
total
refugee
of the
The closed camps.
rest (ie those who
arrived before July 1982) are accommodated
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
consider
that
accord with HMG's
obligations under
the
the policy does
International
not
Covenant
fully
on
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
a rather
So far
in
the
have camp s
been
criticised
CONFIDENTIAL
time from
to
time
by MP's,