POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION
The Hong Kong Government and the international community recognise that while the economy in Vietnam has been improving gradually, returnees may have difficulties in re-establishing themselves on their return. The UNHCR therefore provides financial assistance to help returnees resume their normal lives in Vietnam. In addition, the European Community provides returnees with assistance. Hong Kong has also contributed $25 million to small-scale infrastructural projects in the poorer migrant-producing areas in Vietnam.
It cost the Hong Kong Government $753 million to look after the Vietnamese migrants and refugees in 1996. The United Kingdom Government contributed $81 million to the Orderly Repatriation Programme and the UNHCR's programme in Hong Kong.
The UNHCR is responsible for the costs of the care and maintenance of Vietnamese migrants but in 1996 could meet only $23.2 million out of the $100 million incurred, bringing its accumulated debt to the Hong Kong Government since 1989 to $1.145 billion.
By the end of 1996, there were 6 301 Vietnamese migrants and 1 345 refugees in Hong Kong. All Vietnamese migrants have exhausted the status determination process. Their only future lies in their homeland- Vietnam. The government is committed to repatriating all the migrants as soon as possible thus bringing this saga to an early and humane conclusion.
During the year, 16 Ex-China Vietnamese Illegal Immigrants (ECVIIs), most of whom arrived in Hong Kong in 1993, were returned to China. The ECVIIs are Vietnamese migrants who settled in China before arriving in Hong Kong. Once they had sought and obtained asylum in China, they are considered to have no further claim to refugee status or resettlement. It has been Hong Kong's policy to treat them as illegal immigrants and to repatriate them to China. On August 23, 1993, agreement was reached with China to repatriate all the ECVIIS in Hong Kong. The repatriation process was carried out in batches by land and by air. In 1995, some of the ECVIIS challenged the decision to return them to China. The High Court dismissed the action and an appeal against this decision was rejected by the Court of Appeal. The appellants then took the case to the Privy Council, which handed down judgement on November 21, 1996, in their favour. The Administration is studying the effect of this judgement.
401