4
Hong Kong problems
The temporary or permanent settlement in its territory of thousands of refugees poses particularly severe problems for Hong Kong, with its very limited land area. For years it has been the goal of Chinese wanting to leave the mainland. Nearly 10,000 illegal immigrants were arrested trying to enter Hong Kong from China in 1984, and all were repatriated in accordance with Government policy, irrespective of any family connexions with local Hong Kong Chinese. The main influx of Vietnamese boat people began in 1979. Since then Hong Kong has given temporary asylum to almost 100,000 Vietnamese. first arrivals were mainly from the South and were of Chinese ethnic origin. Since 1980, however, almost all arrivals have been ethnic Vietnamese, a large minority of them from the North. All have been granted temporary asylum in Hong Kong.
The
Despite a declining rate of departures from Vietnam, the refugee population in Hong Kong has increased since April 1982; those living in the various kinds of transit centre now number about 11,000. Half are accommodated in the "closed" centres which were opened in July 1982 for new arrivals. The aim of this policy is to discourage Vietnamese from leaving Vietnam for Hong Kong. Refugees living in such camps are barred from seeking outside employment. Because of the declining rate of resettlement from Hong Kong, refugees are having to remain in camps for increasingly long periods.
The resettlement rate 17,800 in 1981 had fallen by 1984 to 3,700, partly due to the rising proportion of Northerners in the camps (currently about 50 per cent). Refugees from North Vietnam are less likely to have family ties overseas than those from the South and tend to be less skilled. In addition, some host countries are reluctant to accept Northerners who have spent up to 30 years in a Communist society as genuine refugees entitled to permanent resettlement.
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Recognising the problems of enforced confinement in the closed camps, the Hong Kong Government has embarked on a vocational training programme for the Vietnamese; a special training centre is due to open in mid-1985. As well as being responsible for running the open camps, in cooperation with voluntary agencies, the UNHCR helps to finance the closed camps, despite its view that the policy of trying to deter refugees from coming in the first place is "at variance with the principles of international protection".
Britain's
concern
In late 1984 and early 1985, the Sub-Committee (of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee) on Race Relations and Immigration conducted an enquiry into the question of Refugees and Asylum with Special Reference to the Vietnamese. In its written evidence to the Sub-Committee, the British Government endorsed the UNHCR view that the third "durable solution" resettlement in Western countries like Britain was the least acceptable long-term solution. But it reaffirmed Britain's continuing international commitment to resettle ship rescue cases and refugees eligible to join relatives already in Britain. The Government had decided in 1978 that refugees rescued by ships registered in Britain would normally be accepted for resettlement