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violence.
wait for resettlement, thus reducing the likelihood of friction and
However the opportunities for employment in the closed
centres are limited. (Open centre refugees are of
of course free to
seek outside employment). It might be possible to provide more
optional and paid work within the centres without harming the
overall deterrent message of the closed centre policy provided the
resources of land and capital investment were available.
The
(iii) We should consider also whether another international
conference on Indo-Chinese refugees might help Hong Kong.
problem remains though that we are not at present able to take an initiative given our low resettlement rate, nor is the proposal
likely to find general favour with other resettlement countries in
the foreseeable future.
Future of the Closed Centres
26. For the reasons discussed in Section III above, the Hong Kong
Government believe that the closed centre policy must continue at
very least until such time as the flow of new arrivals has substantially
reduced. We have examined in Section VI (A) above ways in which we
might try to reduce it. Unless it is reduced and unless a
significant increase in the rate of departure can be achieved, by
any of the ways discussed in Section VI (B), several thousand
refugees are likely to remain in closed centres for some years to
The question arises whether changes should be made to the
closed centre regime to deal with the humanitarion and legal
problems identified in paragraph 7 above. Hong Kong have already
implemented some proposals of the British Refugee Council (as the
BRC recognise in their report "Behind Barbed Wire," December 1984)
(eg reunification in closed centres of spouses separated between
closed and open centres). The training schemes discussed in para
25(d)(ii) above could also help solve some of the social,
psychological and humanitarian problems. But we might also:
come.
(i) Examine whether there are other improvements that might be made
in the quality of life in the centres (while recognising the
deterrent purpose of the closed centre policy);
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