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N Ramamurthy Esq Secretary, Asia Section Quaker Peace and Service Friends House
Euston Road
NW1 2BJ
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
21 January 1985
pa # 243/Gen.
MKK 243/5
RECEIVED IN ALLSTRY
Dear Mr. Ramamen kay,
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(345) HICK 24.3|
никанз Thank you for your letter of 27 December about the closed refugee centre policy in Hong Kong.
As you say, the problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is a very difficult one. There are no easy solutions.
Since 1975, over half a million people have left Vietnam as "boat people". Over 100,000 of these have arrived in Hong Kong, which is one of the most crowded places in the world with a population density 20 times that of the UK.
None of them has been turned away. Hong Kong has accepted 14,000 for permanent settlement, and offered temporary asylum to the rest. Initially these boat people were resettled in third countries at a fairly steady rate, but by 1982 resettlement levels had fallen considerably while boat people continued to arrive in Hong Kong. result the numbers in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement began to rise, and the prospects of those already in Hong Kong's camps grew worse. Some 12,000 now remain in the camps.
Arrivals continue at a reduced rate.
As a
Against this background it seemed essential to do everything possible to deter refugees from Vietnam from setting out on the long and dangerous journey to Hong Kong. It was for this reason, rather than because of any comparison with illegal immigrants from China (although the difference in treatment does rankle in Hong Kong) that the policy of placing newly-arrived refugees in closed centres, from which they are not permitted to seek outside employment, was instituted. The centres are run with the cooperation of the UNHCR, who also help to fund them. We are making every effort, in cooperation with the UNHCR and other
/countries