kept to 75, and the daily average of two-permit holders,
then also
at 75, would be allowed to increase very gradually. The average has now reached 167 per day : all are required to return to China at the
expiry
of period
stay and are repatriated
overstay.
of
their
if
they
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
6.13
Persons
Refugees from Vietnam have been arriving by boat in Hong Kong
since 1975.
1975. In 1979 the influx reached its peak, with over 66,000
Numbers refugees arriving during the first 7 months of the year. fell sharply after the Geneva Conference on Refugees and Displaced
in South-East
but Asia in July 1979,
arrivals since have
continued to be substantial. All refugees arriving in small boats (as well as those picked up by vessels belonging to third countries)
and are accommodated in are given temporary asylum in Hong Kong,
in third countries. to await resettlement
Since 1975 camps
in Hong Kong; some 100,000 have been 110,000 refugees have arrived in Hong Kong: resettled elsewhere, of whom over 60,000 have gone to the USA, and
over 12,000 to
to the UK. About 14,500 displaced Indo-Chinese have
been accepted for permanent settlement in Hong Kong.
them
over
slowed
The
arrivals in
6.14 Since 1982, however, the rate of resettlement has and the number of refugees in Hong Kong has tended to increase. Hong Kong Government have since July 1982 placed new closed centres, to deter others from leaving Vietnam for Hong Kong. (reviously, refugees were given accommodation in open centres which
allowed
the opportunity to seek outside employment in Hong
Kong).
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees contributes to the funding of the centres. This policy appears to have had some effect on the number of refugees arriving in Hong Kong: arrivals for 1983 were 53% down on 1982 figures, compared with a whole. 1984 a decrease of 36% in the South East Asian region as
and 1985
continuation of this trend. a
The
saw
United
However,
There tended to rise.
the rate of
in 1986 has arrivals
are at present about 8,700 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement.
the
Home
6.15 In September 1985 HMG published a White
Affairs Committee's
Committee's Sub-Committee
on
Race
White Paper in response to
Relations and