(c)
-
· 50 -
Under the Comprehensive Plan of Action, all refugees will be resettled overseas. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assists refugees secure overseas resettlement. Drug addiction does, of course, affect the acceptability of refugees by third countries for overseas resettlement, but it does not make them unresettleable; simply harder to place. In the case of addicted refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees arranges for their detoxification before departure. At a Technical Meeting convened by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangkok in June 1994, the Hong Kong Government appealed to resettlement countries to relax their criteria for accepting these hard-to-place refugees from Hong Kong. Since 1 April 1994, about 300 of these refugees, including their family members, have been resettled overseas from Pillar Point.
End/Wednesday, March 8, 1995
Use of ICE not a trend
Following is a question by the Hon Timothy Ha Wing-ho and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Security, Mr Ken Woodhouse, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
According to figures released by the Narcotics Bureau of the Police, a total of 123 kilogrammes of 'ice' was seized by the Police and the Customs and Excise Department last year, which was the highest on record. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether there are any signs indicating that the abuse of "ICE" has
become a new trend among drug addicts;
(b)
of the quantity of 'ICE' seized by the Police and the Customs and Excise Department in each of the past three years; and
(c)
of the estimated numbers of adults and youngsters abusing 'ICE' habitually in each of the past three years; and what measures are being taken by the Government to tackle the problem?