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journalists and other
interested
Refugee Council (BRC) who in
"Behind Barbed Wire" about the
with the BRC
BRC and discussed with
British
groups, particularly the
December 1984 produced a pamphlet
·
camps Mr Luce both corresponded
them their detailed criticisms of
the camps. Where possible their recommendations for improvement
conditions have been implemented by the HKG.
of
Report of Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration (SCORRI)
4.
SCORRI'S recent report "Refugees and Asylum with Special
Reference to the Vietnamese" included a number of recommendations
relating to the problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. A Home
Office White Paper in response to the report was published on 26 September. With regard to the refugee situation in Hong Kong, it
announced the following:
(i)
(ii)
HMG's decision, in accordance with SCORRI'S recommendation,
to accept for resettlement some 500 refugees who have
relatives in the UK
the UK but who would normally fall outside the Home Office's immigration criteria for family reunion cases. (Most of these are in camps in Hong Kong, but a few will come from other places of first asylum in South East Asia);
are
prepared to
that, depending on
the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs, HMG consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Government would similarly be
prepared
into Hong Kong from
camps, but again this will depend on other countries' response to the UK's initiative;
(iii)
present
to
absorb
limited numbers
possible to
agree
the
to
circumstances do not make it SCORRI's recommendation that Hong Kong's closed camp policy be ended. In HMG's view, abolition of the policy would cause
sharp rise in the number
in Hong Kong,
a
consequently an
unacceptable
camp population in Hong Kong.
of arrivals
and
unmanageable
and
rise in
the
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