ว
I would like first to
stress
the size of the
task
caring for the
100,000
that Hong Kong has faced in
Vietnamese boat people who have arrived in the territory
since 1975.
None have been turned away. They have all
been gran ted temporary asylum by the Hong Kong Government
and accommodated in camps until resettlement places
overseas could be found for them. This is a considerable
overcrowded territory.
achievement for
such a small
>
Hong Kong has
also itself accepted some
14,500
Indo-Chinese for resettlement
over this period.
There are
currently about 9,500 Vietnamese refugees
in camps in the territory. As Ms Goodrum mentions in her
letter, these
closed camps.
refugees are divided between open and
Initially, all newly arriving boat people
were accommodated in open camps.
reasonably quickly.
Most were resettled
However by 1982 it was becoming
increasingly difficult to find
resettlement places, and
the Hong Kong Government saw no alternative but to take
steps to discourage those still in Vietnam from setting
out for Hong Kong. In July of that year they
they therefore
introduced a new policy under which all newly arriving
refugees would be placed in closed camps, from which they
would not be permitted to seek outside employment. This
policy has been reasonably
success ful
in reducing the
level of arrivals; but a flow of people out of Vietnam
nevertheless continues.
Much as we and the Hong Kong
Government dislike the policy, we see no alternative to
continuing it while refugees continue
to arrive in the
territory.