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might encourage other countries to make similar approaches, bilaterally or collectively.
Interim Proposal: Screening of New Arrivals
19. Recognising that repatriation is unlikely to be feasible in the short term, the Hong Kong Government has recently examined the possibility of introducing now a scheme to screen out "economic migrants" from genuine refugees, against the day when repatriation of the former might be possible. Screening would be done by an independent tribunal in the presence of a UNHCR observer. Those identified as refugees would be placed in the closed centres pending resettlement. Economic migrants would be detained as illegal
immigrants. Alternatively, all would be detained initially as illegal immigrants, leaving UNHCR to advise the Hong Kong Government that particular cases should be given refugee status and transferred to closed centres.
20. The advantages of this scheme would be:
(a) It might deter some economic migrants from coming to Hong Kong; (b) it would be in line with Hong Kong's treatment of undocumented migrants from other countries, including China;
(c)
those granted refugee status would have a reasonable prospect
of resettlement in the West.
21. The disadvantages would be:
(a) If arrivals nevertheless continued, Hong Kong would find itself stuck with a growing number of economic migrants with no prospect of resettlement;
(b)
a tougher regime than that now applied in the closed centres might be needed control those facing the prospect of ultimate
repatriation or very long confinement;
(c) resettlement countries might take advantage of a reduction in the "refugee" population to scale down further their level of offtake from Hong Kong;
(d)
22.
human rights/legal problems. [Mr Burrows]
[ See redraft.
redraft B
28/]
They have not been
Again, UNHCR's support would be needed.
consulted officially. Hong Kong believe that UNHCR would welcome such a step towards application of a more correct definition of
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