GS1AWI
RESTRICTED
UK/JAPANESE BILATERAL ON UN MATTERS: 30 JUNE 1986
ITEM C: HUMAN RIGHTS:
Background
General
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG
HKK 243/9
RECEIVED IN RÉGISTRY
27 JUN 1986
DES
INDEX
:
PA
Action Taken
76
1.
8,500 Vietnamese boat refugees are in Hong Kong awaiting
resettlement; the largest number of any place of first asylum in
South East Asia.
Hong Kong because
They are spending increasingly long periods in
of diminishing resettlement prospects: 64% have
been there more than 3 years. Hong Kong's rate of resettlement is the lowest of any place of first asylum in the region.
Recent Action by HMG
2.
The Government announced in September:
(i)
(ii)
that HMG will accept for resettlement some 500 refugees, mostly from Hong Kong, who have relatives in the UK but who
would normally fall outside the Home Office's criteria for family reunion cases;
that, depending on
the willingness shown by other
resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs, HMG are prepared to consider accepting
accepting further limited numbers
from Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong Government would also be
prepared to absorb limited numbers from the camps. Kong is absorbing up to 250 more refugees.)
(Hong
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