THE HUEY FONG
15.
The Hong Kong Government allowed the 3,300 refugees from the
HUEY FONG to land, even though Hong Kong was mot the vessel's next
scheduled port of call. The decision was taken for humanitarian
reasons after the vessel had remained at anchor outside Hong Kong
for four weeks, since the Master refused to continue his journey to
Taiwan. The decision did not imply any change in Hong Kong's
adherence to the first-port-of-call policy.
THE SKYLUCK
16.
This Panamanian-registered vessel arrived off Hong Kong on
7 February, with some 3,000 refugees aboard. The Hong Kong
Government is investigating how this came about and are meanwhile
supplying food, water and essential medical supplies.
DETENTION OF REFUGEES
17.
Refugees who are allowed to land temporarily in Hong Kong are
not held in detention. New arrivals may be detained while their
cases are considered to see whether they qualify for temporary
admission. The law was recently amended to allow the period of
detention to continue beyond a month, since under the previous law
the Hong Kong Government had no alternative but to return to their
country of origin any would-be immigrants whose cases had not been
decided at the end of a month.
PROSECUTION OF MASTER
18. The Master of the HUEY FONG has been charged with carrying
excess passengers. If convicted, he faces up to four years
imprisonment and a large fine. These penalties were recently increased
to deter trafficking in refugees for profit. The laws are not applied in the case of genuine shipwreck survivors picked up at sea.
LEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA
19. The Government have made repeated representations to the Chinese
/Gov. Pamera 6.
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