POPULATION AND IMMIGRATION
With the formal conclusion of the internationally agreed Comprehensive Plan of Action, and in view of the changed circumstances in Vietnam, the HKSAR ended the port of first asylum policy for Vietnamese with effect from January 9, 1998.
In practice it means the special statutory provisions on the screening for refugee status and related review procedures for Vietnamese cease to have effect on new arrivals from that date. These people are treated in the same way as are illegal immigrants from elsewhere. That is, they will be repatriated as soon as possible. There is no question of pushing them out to sea. With the declining Vietnamese population, the New Horizon Vietnamese Refugee Departure Centre was closed in March and the High Island Detention Centre, Hong Kong's last Vietnamese detention centre, formally closed in May.
Ex-China Vietnamese
The Ex-China Vietnamese are those who settled in the Mainland before arriving in Hong Kong irregularly. They are predominantly ethnic Chinese who fled Vietnam in the early 1980s. Having obtained asylum in the Mainland, they are considered to have no further claim for refugee status or resettlement in other countries. The government's policy has been to detain them and repatriate them to the Mainland, where they had already found protection.
In June 1997, some 280 Ex-China Vietnamese initiated habeas corpus proceedings seeking their release from detention. In September 1997, the Court of First Instance ruled that their continued detention was unlawful and ordered their release. The government complied pending appeal and the case was brought to the Court of Appeal and later the Court of Final Appeal which ruled in July 1998 that most of them were lawfully detained. The Ex-China Vietnamese have also initiated judicial review proceedings against the decision to remove them to Mainland China. The court is considering the case.
The HKSARG will continue to ask the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to look for resettlement opportunities for the Vietnamese refugees and will continue with efforts to repatriate the Vietnamese migrants, Vietnamese illegal immigrants and the Ex-China Vietnamese.
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