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Overall VM population now below 10,000
A total of 237 Vietnamese migrants (VMs) returned to Vietnam on a voluntary repatriation flight this (Friday) morning and with their departure, the overall VM population fell below 10,000 for the first time since December 1988.
As at 12 noon today, there are 9,924 VMs in Hong Kong.
Commenting on this morning's flight, the Refugee Co-ordinator, Mr Brian Bresnihan, expressed satisfaction at the current rate of repatriation.
"Some 11,413 VMs have returned to Vietnam so far this year, 1,772 in October alone, the highest monthly figure in 1996," he said.
Mr Bresnihan said that in recent weeks, the Vietnamese authorities had agreed to voluntary repatriation flights landing in Ho Chi Minh City.
"This agreement was announced by UNHCR in the Whitehead Detention Centre on October 30 and was a factor which prompted a record 1,041 VMs in that camp to volunteer to go home in advance of the forthcoming cycle of Orderly Repatriation Programme flights.
"We remain determined to resolve this problem as soon as possible and, if the current repatriation trends continue, it should be possible to close our camps by mid- 1997," he said.
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Privacy Commissioner's recommendation being studied
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Branch said today (Friday) that the Government has received a recommendation by the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data that the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, other than sections 30 and 33, should commence operation in the latter half of December 1996.
The spokesman said it is the Government's intention all along to bring the Ordinance into effect within this year.