makes rules providing for the treatment, and control of conduct of Vietnamese refugee in refugee centres, and for the management and security of, and maintenance of order, discipline, cleanliness and hygiene in the centres.
28.
All Vietnamese refugees arriving in Hong Kong on or after 2 July 1982 are informed of the conditions under which they will stay in Hong Kong and are given the option of leaving Hong Kong if they wish to do so and to receive any possible assistance to do so.
29.
Altogether a total of about 122,000 refugees have arrived of which about 113.000 have so far been resettled in other countries. The special controls on refugees introduced on 2 July 1982 were necessary because of the pull which Hong Kong was exercising on refugees to journey to Hong Kong, the more restrictive practices of other places of first asylum in the region, the steady rate of arrival in Hong Kong of refugees from Vietnam and the decreasing opportunities for permanent resettlement in the countries which accept refugees for permanent settlement. Although Hong Kong is very crowded and subject to great immigration pressures it has itself accepted about 14,600 refugees and displaced persons from Indochina since 1975.
Paragraph 3
30. The police have no power to detain any person for an indefinite period However, there are a number of provisions in legislation which give Police power to detain persons for specified periods
"as
31. Under the Police Force Ordinance, Chapter 232, and other Ordinances concerned with the criminal law, various powers of arrest are given to police officers. In each case where an arrest is made. however. the arrested person must be charged with an offence as soon as is reasonably practicable, or be released. Whilst no time limit is set down in law,
soon as is reasonably practicable" is construed by informal agreement between Police and Judiciary, to mean "for not longer than 48 hours". Once charged he must appear before a court at the first opportunity. For this reason special sittings of Magistrate's Court are sessioned during long public holidays or when a public holiday immediately precedes or follows a weekend.
-
32. Under the Immigration Ordinance, Chapter 115, a police officer of the rank of superintendent or above may detain a person for up to 48 hours where he is satisfied that an enquiry under the Ordinance is necessary and the person may abscond if not detained. In addition an officer of the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or above may, if he is similarly satisfied, detain such person for a further 5 days. A police officer may detain a person for not more than 24 hours pending an examination of that person's right to land in Hong Kong, and for not more than a further 24 hours whilst a decision is made. Furthermore, a person who is to be removed from Hong Kong may be detained for up to 48 hours pending his removal.