OXFAM
樂施會
survey apparently indicates that 50 per cent of the refugees did not know about the closed centres when they left Vietnam. Every Vietnamese person we have asked has
confirmed that nobody is deterred from coming to Hong Kong by the closed centre policy.
Mr French conceded that there is no proof that the policy is a deterrent or that more refugees would come to Hong Kong if it were abandoned. "It is a matter of judgement," he said. "Our judgement in 1982 was that the closed camp policy would be something of a deterrent and our judgement continues to be that it is something of a deterrent, and since it is the only one we have got we are not about to give it away."
The government's judgement is not our judgement. However, there are really two issues here. There is the principle of detaining refugees in a closed community and then there is the way in which the policy is put into practice.
We do not like the policy, but accept it as a necessary evil because we are aware of the much more serious reality of illegal immigration from China. Last year 19,915 illegal immigrants were sent back to China, and against that background it would be difficult to allow refugees from Vietnam to immediately live and work openly in our community.
However, it is the execution of the policy that we challenge. The closed centres opened in 1982 after serious disturbances between rival refugee groups, and it is understandable that at that time security was seen as being of prime importance. But times change. Many refugees have now been in the centres for three, four or five years. There are children who have spent their entire lives behind a prison fence. As far as we know, there has not been a single escape and it is years since the last serious unrest. Today, security is only one of many aspects of refugee care.
Although the nature of the refugee 'communities' has changed, the Correctional Services Department has remained as the managing agency for all closed centres. CSD's prime function is control. Its role is to enforce a policy of detention - some superintendents do this in a fairly relaxed way, others stick to the letter of the law, but overall there has been very little progress towards creating an environment in which people can develop.
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