[NRIAIG]
CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND
General
1.
South
10,000
Vietnamese
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THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN CLOSED FOR
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in refugees
Hong
Kong
to
awaiting
resettlement, the largest number of any place of first asylum in find East Asia. It i s becoming increasingly difficult resettlement places, Several resettlement countries, including the US, have cited the UK's failure to take more refugees from Hong Kong
for
The UK this.
has accepted
19,000
Vietnamese for resettlement since 1975, mostly from Hong Kong, but has taken very few from the territory in recent years (88 in 1984; 5 SO far in 1985). We have been severely criticised in Hong Kong for
this.
as
major
reason
s ome
Closed camp policy
2.
Since July 1982, in order to discourage further Vietnamese from leaving by boat for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong
the Hong Kong Government have been placing all newly arriving Vietnamese refugees in closed camps
they
are
not
from which
Policy has been effective
nevertheless
policy
continues.
in Hong Kong.
population
are
currently
permitted
to seek
outside employment. in reducing level of arrivals, but flow
There
support strong public
Just
of the half
total
in closed camps. The rest (ie those who
is
over
for the
refugee
for Refugees
arrived before July 1982) are accommodated in open camps run by the local office of the United Nations High Commission (UNHCR) in cooperation with voluntary agencies.
Closed camps conditions
3.
However conditions
in
the
have camps
been
criticised
from time to time
by MP's,
CONFIDENTIAL