XN000022-1987-07-08 — Page 18

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1987

IN HONG KONG, MR JEAFFRESON HAD DISCUSSED THE THE CONSULS-GENERAL AND COMMISSIONERS OF COUNTRIES.

WITH

REFUGEE PROBLEM 17 RESETTLEMENT

IF

"ALL THEIR INITIAL RESPONSES HAVE BEEN SYMPATHETIC AND THEY HAVE AGREED TO PASS ON OUR PLEAS TO THEIR GOVERNMENTS TO CONSIDER, HE SAID.

THE LOBBYING EXERCISE FOLLOWED THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S ANNOUNCEMENT IN MAY TO ACCEPT A FURTHER 468 REFUGEE FROM HONG KONG UNDER THE RELAXED FAMILY REUNION CRITERIA, AT AN OFFTAKE RATE OF ABOUT 20 PER MONTH.

"PROCESSING OF THESE CASES HAS STARTED AND WE EXPECT

H

FIRST GROUP WILL LEAVE HONG KONG FOR THIS MONTH, MR JEAFFRESON SAID.

RESETTLEMENT

IN THE

THAT THE UK LATER

HE SAID IN THE FIRST FIVE-MONTHS OF THIS YEAR ARRIVALS WERE PER CENT DOWN ON ARRIVALS IN THE SAME PERIOD OF LAST YEAR.

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"BUT A SUDDEN INCREASE IN JUNE, A TOTAL OF 405 COMPARED WITH 191 IN JUNE LAST YEAR, NOW MEANS THAT THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ARRIVALS SO AR THIS YEAR, AT 976, EXCEEDS LAST YEAR'S FIGURE FOR THE SAME PERIOD BY -4," HE SAID.

SO FAR THIS YEAR, 1,309 REFUGEES HAD BEEN RESETTLED, WITH 2,372 FOR THE SAME PERIOD LAST YEAR.

COMPARED

THAT THERE WILL

DEPARTURES

"IF THE PRESENT TRENDS CONTINUE, WE ESTIMATE BE AROUND 2,200 ARRIVALS AND ROUGHLY THE SAME NUMBER OF FOR THE FULL YEAR," MR JEAFFRESON SAID.

ADDING IN BIRTHS, HE EXPECTED THE TOTAL REFUGEE NOW AT 7,852, TO INCREASE TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR.

POPULATION,

OF THOSE WHO WERE LEFT, ABOUT 4,600 HAD BEEN IN HONG KONG FOR THREE YEARS AND AROUND 3,200 FOR AS LONG AS FIVE YEARS, HE ADDED.

ON THE REASON FOR THE LOWER RATE OF RESETTLEMENT, MR JEAFFRESON EXPLAINED THAT FEWER REFUGEES SEEMED TO MEET THE CRITERIA SET BY THE RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES, SUCH AS CLOSE FAMILY CONNECTIONS.

"A SECOND REASON IS THAT MANY OF THE RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES ARE HAVING QUITE SERIOUS PROBLEMS WITH REFUGEES AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM OTHER PLACES IN THE WORLD, AND ARE HAVING TO LIMIT THE NUMBERS THEY CAN TAKE FROM HONG KONG,' ADDING THAT A THIRD REASON BEING THE RELUCTANCE OF SOME COUNTRIES TO TAKE NORTHERNERS,

ABOUT 76 PER CENT OF THE ARRIVALS SO FAR THIS

NORTH VIETNAM, HE ADDED.

YEAR

WERE FROM

"WHATEVER MIGHT BE DONE IN THE SHORT-TERM TO IMPROVE THE PROSPECTS OF RESETTLEMENT AND TO LIGHTEN THE BURDEN ON OUR COMMUNITY, WE ARE ALL HERE IN FULL AGREEMENT THAT THERE HAS TO BE A LONG-TERM SOLUTION, MR JEAFFRESON CONTINUED,

**

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