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Office of Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils 行政立法兩局議員辦事處
Lord Glenarthur
House of Lords
London SW1A OPW
United Kingdom
Dear Lord Glenarthur,
17 November 1988
Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong
has
The Vietnamese boat people influx to Hong Kong worsened dramatically since I last wrote to both Houses of the UK Parliament in January
1987. Today we have a refugee population of 15,552 which represents a 93% increase over the figure of 8,059 in January 1987. In
In addition, we have another 9,547 Vietnamese boat people who have arrived but whose refugee status or otherwise has yet to be ascertained.
The record of UK's acceptance of Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong has been disappointing. Over the past five years, UK has taken less than 1,000 Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong whereas during the same period, the United States and Canada had each resettled 5,497 and 4,958 respectively - five times that of the UK while Australia took in more than 2,500. I need not draw on further statistics to show why resettlement countries are
are finding it increasingly difficult to justify the acceptance of more refugees from Hong Kong when UK, the sovereign state, has only managed to take in so few.
The influx and the lack of adequate resettlement forced the Hong Kong Government to introduce a number of new measures to tackle
tackle the problem. We have, since 16 June 1988, stopped granting refugee status automatically to Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong. As a parallel measure, we have also started a liberalization programme for the refugees currently kept at closed centres. However, these measures will not be effective unless the UK takes a lead in increasing the number it takes for resettlement SO as to encourage other resettlement countries to accept the remaining refugees.
U20
Legislative Council Building, 8 Jackson Road, Central, Hong Kong. #+EREI^ Tel: 5-8440700