2
3.
Parts VIIA and VIIB of the Ordinance were
enacted in August 1979 to provide for more effective
control of trafficking in unlawful immigration.
Under these provisions, any person who aids illegal
immigrants to enter Hong Kong commits an offence.
Offenders are liable on conviction to a fine up to
$5 million and imprisonment for life, while the
ships and other property involved are liable to
forfeiture. These two parts will also expire on 31
December 1986 unless extended.
4.
Hong Kong's Vietnamese refugee problem has
persisted. There has been an increase in arrivals
from Vietnam this year. In the first nine months of
1986, a total of 1,920 Vietnamese refugees arrived,
compared with 952 in the corresponding period in
1985. On the other hand, thanks to a sympathetic
understanding of our predicament by the main
resettlement countries, the United States, Canada
and Australia, and thanks also to Her Majesty's
Government's initiative in relaxing its family
reunion criteria and the response of other countries
to this initiative, the refugees resettled in the
first nine months numbered 3,258. The refugee
population at 8,356 at the end of September was at
its lowest for this decade. But the prospects for
next year as far as resettlement is concerned are