OXFAM
January 6 1988
The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA
England
Dear Prime Minister
culi
樂施會
You may recall that in mid-1986 Oxfam Hong Kong, which is an independent sister organization of Oxfam UK, produced a report on how Hong Kong was caring for Vietnamese refugees. A copy was sent to you, urging your Government to speed up resettlement of the refugees.
We have recently completed a further report and I am pleased to enclose a copy for your information.
You are no doubt well aware of the mounting sense of frustration in Hong Kong over the length of time it is taking to resolve this problem. In particular, there have been calls on your Government to accept more refugees for resettlement and to raise the issue of repatriation for 'non-refugees' with the Vietnamese authorities.
As you know, the Hong Kong Government is spending more than HK$120 million per year to keep more than 6,000 innocent people in prison indefinitely, and it seems to us quite appalling that there are now many young children in the closed centres who are being denied the basic freedoms that are every child's right. Families are breaking up, and we fear that many of the refugees have now fallen so far out of touch with normal life that they will prove extremely difficult to resettle anywhere.
Oxfam Hong Kong believes that conditions in the centres here are a matter for the Hong Kong Government and we are pursuing this matter vigorously with the government and with members of the Legislative Council. However, we also recognize the importance of maintaining a steady rate of resettlement of refugees, so that people do not get stuck in the centres. We appreciate that if a repatriation scheme could be worked out with the Vietnamese authorities,
guaranteeing the safety of any 'non-refugees' returned to Vietnam, the whole nature of Hong Kong's refugee problem would dramatically change.
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九龍旺角彌敦道673號香港上海滙豐銀行大厦604室
Room 604, Hong Kong Bank Building, 673 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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