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CONFIDENTIAL
BACKGROUND NOTE
HONG KONG: REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM
1.
To qualify for permanent settlement in Hong Kong, a refugee from Vietnam should normally be either a spouse, a dependent child or a dependent elderly parent of somebody who is already a permanent resident in the colony. Exceptions are however made when there are strong humanitarian reasons for doing so. Since the change of regime in South Vietnam in 1975, the Hong Kong Government have arranged for 4,800 former residents of Vietnam to go to Hong Kong to join close releatives who were already living in the territory. A further 5,700 who had made their own way to
been Hong Kong, have/allowed to settle although they had no special claim on Hong Kong, because there was no possibility of returning them to their home country at the time when their presence came to light.
In common with other South East Asian countries, Hong Kong is having to cope with a stream of small boat refugees who continue to leave Vietnam in large numbers and seek refuge in other countries in the region. The Hong Kong Government's policy towards such refugees is to allow all those who make their way to Hong Kong in their own boats to land temporarily until they can be resettled in other countries. Hong Kong is also willing to provide temporary shelter to any small boat refugees who are picked up at sea by vessels whose first scheduled port of call is Hong Kong. Although a case has not yet arisen, it is probable that Hong Kong would also follow HMG's policy in accepting any refugees picked up by a vessel of Hong Kong registry and taken to a third country, if they could not be resettled elsewhere.
2.
3.
All small boat refugees who are provided with temporary shelter in Hong Kong in this way are looked after by the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who meets the cost of their food and accommodation as well as undertaking to arrange for their permanent resettlement in other countries.
4.
Despite this assistance from the UNHCR, small boat refugees
/are
CONFIDENTIAL
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