+
•NEWS
FROM
THE U.S. COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES
For immediate release
This copy
for HKD), FCO
(we can get futter copies
for More Kove if necessar
ídcetts
For further information 10/6.
Contact: Nancy Iris Tel: (202) 667-0782
HOPES FADE FOR VIETNAMESE BOAT REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
For many of Hong Kong's 9,000 Vietnamese boat refugees, life takes place
in prison-like conditions, according to a report just issued by the U.S.
Committee for Refugees. In some cases, entire families in Hong Kong's closed
camps occupy a 6 by 4 feet living space.
More than half of the Hong Kong refugees are not now being processed for
resettlement. Nearly 20 percent have already waited in camps for six years,
and 62 percent for three years, the report says. For these refugees, there
seems to be nowhere to go. Western nations, like the U.S. and Canada, which
have traditionally supported the resettlement of the Vietnamese boat refugees,
are curtailing their efforts. Some officials predict the U.S. program will
end altogether within 18 months.
In announcing the new report, Living in Limbo: The Boat Refugees of Hong
Kong and Macao, USCR director Roger Winter voiced concern over a recent
editorial published in a Hong Kong newspaper, the South China Morning Post.
The editorial, in discussing ships that refuse to assist the boat people
at sea, commented: "We cannot condemn them [the ships' captains] for their
callousness, even though human lives are at stake, for shipping firms are
wrestling with far bigger problems over their own survival, than worrying
USCR is a public information and advocacy program of the American Council for Nationalities Service. Established in 1958, it encourages the American public to participate actively in efforts to assist the world's refugees.
20 WEST 40TH STREET 815 FIFTEENTH ST. NW, SUITE 610
NEW YORK, NY 10018 WASHINGTON, D.C.
(212) 398-9142 (202) 667-0782
!