XN000022-1996-05-22 — Page 29

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Thirdly, in the course of the Bills Committee's deliberations some Honourable Members have expressed concern that the Bill might fetter the court's ability to hear evidence before it and to reach its own conclusion. I shall be moving at Committee Stage an amendment which addresses this concern, by clarifying the legislative intent of Section 13D of the Immigration Ordinance while ensuring that our policy objectives are met. I will explain in more detail when moving the amendment.

I understand that the Honourable Margaret Ng, notwithstanding the Committee Stage Amendment which I shall propose, will also be moving another Committee The Stage Amendment on the grounds that it will further clarify the law. Administration do not agree with her amendment. The Bill, if amended as I will be proposing at Committee Stage, is sufficiently clear. Ultimately, as it is for every other law, it is for the courts to interpret and apply this law. In the Administration's view, the Honourable Margaret Ng's Committee Stage Amendment would undermine the legislative intent of the Bill, and would effectively put us back to almost square one.

The long term solution to the Vietnamese migrants problem, whether in respect of VM's who are in detention or those who have been released, is to return them to Vietnam. Honourable members may wish to note in this context that during the first 41⁄2 months of this year, we have successfully repatriated more Vietnamese migrants than the whole of last year. Nevertheless, much work remains to be done, to achieve the objective of clearing the camps by mid-1997. We are redoubling our efforts in this regard. We shall also continue to seek to resolve the problem of clearing the remaining 5,000 VM's including the so-called "non-national" cases for return to Vietnam through diplomatic channels and in conjunction with the UNHCR. In the meantime, it is important that we do nothing to undermine our policy of detaining VM's pending repatriation. The legislative proposal before honourable members is necessary for the preservation of that policy. When the VM problem is completely resolved, which I hope can be achieved before mid-1997, there will be no further need for that part of the Immigration Ordinance dealing with VM's and we would take steps to repeal it. Mr President, I recommend the Bill to honourable members.

End