OXFAM
樂施會
The British government has acknowledged that its programme has been seriously flawed, but lack of orientation training for the refugees may also have been partly to blame for the difficulties. After all, a Vietnamese refugee family arriving in an English town faces colossal problems language, climate, employment, schooling, and a whole range of difficulties in social and cultural adjustment. With this in mind, Oxfam Hong Kong has recently given a grant of $23,800 for an orientation course for refugees who are accepted by Britain.
Lack of orientation training is in fact a common problem. At Argyle, there does not seem to be a good flow of information between CSD and World Relief school staff about which children are going where. There is also a shortage of materials and people to help refugees going to non-English speaking countries.
Hong Kong's own monthly offer of 20 resettlement places for ethnic Chinese refugees from Kaitak has not proved popular. In the 20 months since it was introduced, only 94 have said Yes. Only 34 have been tempted so far this year. Reasons for saying No include the high cost of housing and a fear of g how they will be treated after 1997. However, the main deton factor is that most refugees cling to their dream of being add resettled overseas.
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The government is considering extending its offer.
'ethnic Chinese' qualification may be dropped, so that anyo Cantonese speaking refugee could be considered. Refugees om from closed camps may also become eligible, and those accepted may be given temporary housing and so be able to join the housing queue.
UNHCR is opening a special local settlement unit at Kaitak, staffed by workers trained in integrating people into the Hong Kong community, and its first aim will be to ensure that the local offer of 240 places per year is filled.
But Hong Kong cannot and should not be seen as a major place of resettlement. The 1979 Geneva Conference agreed that Hong Kong would provide a place of first asylum and that third countries would provide places of final settlement. Hong Kong has done its duty, but many other countries have not done theirs. We fully support the efforts of the Hong Kong government and OMELCO in calling for more resettlement places.
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