Thirdly, some of Miss Tran's observations touch directly on care and maintenance services provided to the Vietnamese in detention centres which, under the Statement of Understanding signed between the Hong Kong Government and the UNHCR in September 1988, are the responsibility of the UNHCR.
Care and Maintenance Services in the centres are provided and coordinated by the UNHCR in conjunction with NGOS. The UNHCR will no doubt be interested to see Miss Tran's statement, and I have forwarded a copy to them.
the of of
Fourthly, Miss Tran
has raised concerns about treatment of unaccompanied minors. The vast majority unaccompanied minors have arrived here in the company adult relative (brother/sister, aunt/uncle, cousin or grandparent). Any that are totally unaccompanied by a relative are usually in the care of a family from the boat on which they arrive. Foster parents can sometimes be found by agencies for these children. As part of the international implementation of the Comprehensive Plan of Action, a special committee has been set up by the UNHCR to advise the Government as to how the status of each minor should be resolved and a durable solution found for him or her.
We, too,
are concerned about the rate of resolving the cases of unaccompanied minors. We are pressing UNHCR to take swifter action to resolve these cases. We agree that it is highly undesirable that these children should be allowed to waste their time and valuable young lives in the detention centres.
camps
are
Fifthly, Miss Tran raised a number of concerns about the operation of the detention centre rules. Since 3 November 1989 all detention centres have been governed by the Immigration (Vietnamese boat people) (Detention Centre) Rules. By law, all superintendents of detention centres are required to manage the detention centres in accordance with those rules. Searches of visitors and
necessary
at times to ensure that no unauthorized articles such as drugs or weapons are taken into the centres. I would like to make it clear that the Hong Kong Government recognizes the importance of the right of any Vietnamese to have access to his or her own legal adviser, and that no lawyer has been denied access to a detention centre for the purpose of providing a legal service
his or her client. Vietnamese in
are
detention
to
centres
also free to exchange correspondence with their friends and relatives outside the detention centres.
There is no restriction on the number of letters that they may send or receive.
The