WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1991
3
WHILE
THE
HAS ACTUALLY
"THESE FIGURES SHOW THAT
NUMBER OF REFUGEES DROPPED IN THE PAST YEAR, THE NUMBER OF BOAT PEOPLE HAS INCREASED," MR LEEKS POINTED OUT.
"THIS WAS DUE NOT JUST TO THE ARRIVAL OF 6,600 BOAT PEOPLE BUT ALSO TO 2,400 BIRTHS IN THE DETENTION CENTRES, IN A YEAR WHICH SAW JUST UNDER 5,500 BOAT PEOPLE RETURN TO VIETNAM, HE ADDED.
MR LEEKS SAID ANOTHER WORRYING TREND WAS THAT TWO THIRDS OF THE ARRIVALS CROSSED OVERLAND THROUGH CHINA AND THIS MEANT THAT FACTORS SUCH AS SEA AND WEATHER CONDITIONS HAD NOT HAD THE IR USUAL EFFECT OF REDUCING ARRIVALS ONCE THE SUMMER ENDED.
"THE FIGURE OF 553 ARRIVALS IN DECEMBER WAS MUCH GREATER THAN THE 200 WHO ARRIVED IN DECEMBER 1989, OR EVEN THE 300 IN NOVEMBER 1990. THIS IS THE REVERSE OF THE USUAL REDUCTION WE EXPECT TOWARDS THE END OF EACH YEAR," HE SAID.
"IT IS THEREFORE VERY HARD TO PREDICT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN 1991, EVEN BEFORE THE TRADITIONAL ARRIVAL SEASON STARTS AROUND APRIL," HE SAID.
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IN THE PAST YEAR HAD BEEN THAT 7,700 VIETNAMESE REFUGEES LEFT HONG KONG FOR RESETTLEMENT.
SOME
AFTER REACHING A PEAK OF OVER 37,000 IN 1980, THE RESETTLEMENT RATE FELL BY HALF EACH YEAR, TO ABOUT 2,800 IN 1988.
"IT WAS AT THAT POINT, WITH RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES MAKING CLEAR TO US THAT THEY WERE SUFFERING FROM COMPASSION FATIGUE AND NEW REDUCING THEIR INTAKES OF REFUGEES, AND THAT THEY CONSIDERED MOST ARRIVALS TO BE UNRESETTLABLE ECONOMIC MIGRANTS, AND WITH HONG KONG
A EXPERIENCING
RAPID INCREASE IN ARRIVALS, THAT WE INTRODUCED SCREENING TO IDENTIFY WHO WERE THE GENUINE REFUGEES.
"IT IS SIGNIFICANT THAT SINCE THEN, NOW THAT WE HAVE A SYSTEM IN PLACE FOR IDENTIFYING GENUINE REFUGEES, THE RESETTLEMENT RATE HAS RISEN AGAIN TO ITS PRESENT LEVEL.
"THIS PROVES THAT THE SCREENING POLICY WAS EFFECTIVE BREAKING UP THE RESETTLEMENT LOG JAM WHICH HAD DEVELOPED BY 1988.
LONGER
IN
FACED THE PROSPECT OF HOPE OF RESETTLEMENT,"
"IT MEANT THAT GENUINE REFUGEES, SOME OF WHOM HAD ALREADY BEEN IN HONG KONG FOR ALMOST A DECADE, NO REMAINING HERE INDEFINITELY WITHOUT APPARENT MR LEEKS SAID.
THAT HONG KONG'S REAL NUMBER OF REFUGEES, WHO WOULD
HE SAID IT ALSO HIGHLIGHTED THE FACT PROBLEM WAS NO LONGER THE DWINDLING FIND HOMES ELSEWHERE SOON.
THE 44,000 BOAT BE RESETTLED OVERSEAS,
PEOPLE IN THE AND WHOM THE
"IT IS THE VAST MAJORITY OF VARIOUS CENTRES WHO WILL NOT INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAVE MADE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR THEY REGARD AS NON-
THEIR
REFUGEES WHO MUST RETURN TO UNHCR'S MAJOR AIM FOR 1991 MUST BE CONCLUDED.
IN OWN HOMES ΤΟ GET THESE
0
AND
OUR VIETNAM. PEOPLE
HOME", HE
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