with e staff. The last United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Poul Hartling, visited one
of the closed camps in mid-1985 and said that, although
in
he did not like the idea of such camps he "found the
circumstances, the conditions,
the conditions, very encouraging." Having
seen the refugee camps myself I am satisfied that the
Hong Kong Government is doing everything possible,
very difficult circumstances, to treat the refugees well.
It is also worth noting, although I accept that polls of
this sort tend to produce the answers the questioner
seeks, that, out of 562 refugees questioned in the closed
would choo16.
camps only 13 preferred to return to Vietnam.than to
romain in Hong Kong.
As you say in your letter, some 20,000 Indochinese have
already been accepted for resettlement.
500 more
refugees from camps both in Hong Kong and elsewhere in
South East Asia, are currently being admitted as a result
of our decision announced by the Home Secretary last
September, to relax our present criteria on family
reunion. I am glad to say that this initiative has
encouraged other countries themselves to accept some 1100
more refugees from Hong Kong than they might otherwise
have done. In the light of this encouraging response,
the Hong Kong Government has also decided to resettle
some 250 more refugees, drawn from among the longest
stayers in the camps. These measures should help to ease
the very difficult problem that Hong Kong continues to
face.