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and Immigration Subcommittee on 4 February, we would like nothing better than to see the end of the closed centre policy. It is neither satisfactory nor desirable, and our objective must be to achieve a durable solution as fast as possible. The Hong Kong Government fully share these views. If the flow of arrivals dries up and we are successful in our efforts to resettle those now in the centres, the policy will cease to be necessary.
Against the above background, Mrs Elliott makes two specific points in her letter on which I would like to respond. The first is that resettlement priority is accorded to certain specific groups of refugees. This, unfortunately, is generally true. Individual countries will inevitably have their own criteria to determine whom they will admit: neither UNHCR, to whom the task of resettlement primarily falls, nor HMG, has any control over the policies of resettlement countries, although we continue to support UNHCR efforts to find a durable solution for all the refugees in Hong Kong. I understand that the UNHCR office in Hong Kong believes that Mrs Elliott's claims about resettlement going first to Catholics and those with American lawyers are without foundation. However, they acknowledge that unaccompanied minors, the disabled, families and single females are resettled more easily than single males, and that resettlement countries do give priority to those who have relatives in the country concerned, or other previous links with it.
Mrs Elliott also refers to a drug problem in one or more of the camps in Hong Kong. I understand from the Hong Kong authorities that there are no known addicts in the closed centres; and that there have been eleven drug-related prosecutions of refugees in the open centres since the start of 1983. The Hong Kong authorities remain alert to this potential problem, and the camp authorities and police cooperate closely in order to control and eradicate drug offences. Since drug addiction (as opposed to trafficking in drugs) is not itself an offence in Hong Kong, there is no impediment to any addict voluntarily seeking help through the Hong Kong Government's methadone treatment scheme. The open centres are also provided by the Hong Kong Government with anti-narcotics publicity material, and with teaching and audio-visual aids on drugs, in a continuing effort to ensure that the problem does not establish itself among the refugee population.
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