Open camps
Refugees in open camps enjoy many of the freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong citizens. They may come and go as they please, and we were told that some live outside the camps (with official permission). They take up open employment, travel on public transport, go wherever they like. The major restrictions on these refugees are in regard to education (see above) and running their own businesses, although the law does provide
for the freedoms of employment and residence in the community to be withdrawn as well.
Victoria Prison
There are 15 Vietnamese refugees in Victoria Prison. The government can transfer people there simply by an administrative decision. This concerns us.
The government says that six of the refugees currently in Victoria Prison came to Hong Kong via China, and that they are being held pending their repatriation to China. But they have been held like this for three years.
We appreciate the special circumstances regarding Vietnamese refugees and we have no evidence to suggest that there has been any abuse under the present law. We also recognise that the law states clearly that any refugee can apply to the High Court to have his or her case reviewed.
However, we are concerned about a system that allows detention without trial. We think it is wrong for anybody to be held in prison conditions for a period of time (say, more than six months) without a judicial review as a matter of automatic procedure rather than as a matter of appeal. The present law seems to us to blur the fundamental constitutional principle of the separation of powers.
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