"closed camps" to which
to which your constituent refers, in order
discourage would-be refugees from travelling to Hong
to
Kong.
This policy has markedly reduced the numbers
arriving in the
the territory. We have always regarded the
closed camp s as a temporary arrangement which should
cease to be necessary when the flow of illegal departures
from Vietnam reduced to a trickle.
With in the constraints of the closed camp policy,
the Hong Kong Government seeks to do all that it can to
rake conditions in the camps as humane as possible. It
provides the refugees with
accommodation, food, medical
attention, and educational, recreational and vocational
training facilities, and employs specially recruited and
trained staff to work in the camps. Voluntary agencies
provide a range of social services to refugees in each of
the camps, and representatives from among the refugees
are able to discuss various aspects of camp life at daily
meetings wi th the Camp Superintendents. The United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Poul Hartling,
visited one of the
the closed camps last May and said that,
although he did not like the idea of such camps he "found
the circumstances, the conditions, very encouraging".
We have already accepted
19,000 refugees from Vietnam
Vietnam and 500 more, now in
in South East Asia, are
for resettlement
over
camp s
both in Hong Kong and elsewhere
to be admitted under the relaxation of present criteria
on family reunion announced by the Home Secretary last
September.
I hope that this initiative will
encourage
t
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