EFFECTIVENESS OF THE POLICY
3.
evidence
In his oral
to the sub-committee, Mr
Luce provided statistics of refugee arrivals for Hong Kong and for the South East Asia region as a whole which demonstrate clearly that the Hong Kong arrival
rate has decreased considerably more sharply than that
of the region since the introduction of the closed camp policy. (Q223) In other respects Hong Kong is an attractive place for asylum seekers: it is generally
recognised that the material conditions in Hong Kong's
camps, including the closed camps, are better than
those of
most other countries of the region. Indeed
it was precisely because open camp
conditions were
attractive that Hong Kong appears to have acted as a magnet for boat people until the closed camp policy
was introduced. HMG consider that the conclusion is
inescapable that the decrease in the arrival rate in
Hong Kong is due to the closed camp policy.
CONSEQUENCES OF ABOLISHING THE CLOSED CAMP POLICY
4.
In HMG's view the reasons
closed camp policy are the
were
introduced in 1982.
s ame
HMG
recognises that the latter are
21).
for continuing with the
today as when they
note that the report
"understandable" (para
A substantial flow of refugees continues to
leave Vietnam. Although the Hong Kong arrival rate has decreased more sharply than that of the region as
resettlement rate has only
combined arrival rate and
In HMG's view the likely
and
a whole since 1982, the
just kept pace with the
birth rate in the camps.
consequence of abolishing the closed camp s transferring the residents to open camps would be that Hong Kong would become again the magnet for people
it was between 1979 and 1981. There
from Vietnam that
would be a sharp rise in the number of arrivals,
no corresponding increase in resettlement.
with
As a
i