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misdemeanour rather than a criminal offence, and are not harshly treated. The danger in applying the UN Convention to Hong Kong is that if it were to be done it would soon become widely known and the criteria for establishing refugee status would also become widely known. This too would almost certainly lead to individuals who did not merit the status of refugees being able to produce plausible stories to gain such status.
5. The other dependent territories to which the UN Convention does not apply are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, BIOT, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, New Hebrides, Pitcairn and Turks and Caicos Islands. The likeli- hood of a refugee problem arising in any of these territories is so remote that again I can see no advantage in extending the
convention to them.
22 February 1978
JAB Stewart
Hong Kong & General Dept
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