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MR YEUNG:
Sir, may I refer the Secretary
Is it possible
to the second paragraph of his reply.
that no comparable figures are available from other countries of first asylum because they are not susceptible to the pressures exerted by the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the same way as the Hong Kong
Government and therefore do not necessarily provide any
vocational training for Vietnam refugees?
SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: No, Sir, that is not quite the
case. We have not got the figures from other countries of
first asylum because we have not been able to get them in
the time available to reply to this question. There is no particular pressure put on the Hong Kong Government by
the UNHCR in this matter. If we wish to do a costing
exercise to find out precisely how much money was spent
on vocational training it would be possible to do so
but I wonder whether it would be worth the time and
effort involved.
MR. SOHMEN:
Sir, in the absence of early
prospects for settlement for a majority of the Vietnamese
refugees, what use is the vocational training put? In other words, after receiving vocational training, what do the inmates in the closed camps do after they have received
this training.
SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Well, I think, Sir, we have to fall back on the old adage here of the 'devil finding work for
idle hands to do' and it is undoubtedly that provision
of vocational training in the closed camps does keep the
refugees occupied. It also avoids management problems and potential security problems which would perhaps otherwise arise. And as I have said earlier, I believe it does assist in
their integration in resettlement countries.
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