E.R.
OMELCO. He felt the immigration concession which Home Office
Ministers were minded to agree would suffice for the children.
Their
8. Mr Clinton Leekes, Refugee Co-ordinator Mr Leekes outlined the problem the Hong Kong Government faced over judicial review of asylum determinations which mirrored to a large extent the
problems we faced in the UK. The Hong Kong Department had
recently fought a landmark case where the Hong Kong eqiivalent
of the High Court had ruled that their determination procedures
were fair. Mr Leekes hoped that this would limit the scope for
future judicial review. I asked whether the Hong Kong Government
faced problems over late and continuing representations from asylum seekers. Mr Leekes confirmed this was a problem.
solution was to determine a case and then refer it to the local
representative of the UNHCR with notification that the Hong Kong
Government did not intend to grant refugee status but before proceeding to deport the person they wished the UNHCR to consider
whether it wished to exercise its humanitarian role under the
1951 Convention and declare that the person should be given refugee status. Any representations from the asylum seeker
received after reference to the UNHCR were passed to the UNHCR
and were not considered by the Hong Kong Government. The UNHCR
disliked this procedure intensely. Mr Leekes appreciated that
a similar system might not fit in to the procedure adopted within
the UK.
9. Mrs Judy Ching, Assistant Director (British Nationality)
Mrs Ching mentioned the possibility of a review of the scheme;
again I asked for early consultation if this seemed likely.
put to her the same points on something in the Governor's Report
about the recommendation to be processed in 1992.
10.
Mrs Ching was concerned over the possibility of judicial
review on the grounds of legitimate expectation for some
applicants in the present tranche. She said that she had not had
definitive advice from the FCO on firms which were to count as
British undertakings for the purpose of the scheme. To get
matters moving, Hong Kong Immigration Department had worked out
their own tentative scheme and allocated points on that basis.