TNAG-0885-FCO40-1095-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 84

BACKGROUND NOTE

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

1.

Since 1975 over 45,000 refugees from Indo-China have arrived in Hong Kong. The influx has been particularly rapid in recent months since the Vietnamese Government began clamping down on its ethnic Chinese community: over 27,000 have arrived this year alone. These refugees create special problems for Hong Kong, in view of the territory's small size, crowded conditions and the problems it already faces with the large numbers of immigrants arriving from China.

Refugees Accepted for Permanent Settlement

2.

Hong Kong accepts for permanent settlement any former residents of Indo-China who are spouses, dependent children or elderly parents of people already qualified for permanent residence in the territory, and certain other people where there are special humanitarian consider- ations. Since 1975, 10,500 Indo-Chinese have been allowed to settle

permanently in Hong Kong.

Refugees Allowed to Land Temporarily

3. Hong Kong also provides temporary shelter to any genuine refugees who arrive in their own small boats or are picked up at sea by vessels whose next port of all is Hong Kong. Such people are allowed to land temporarily, while the representative in Hong Kong of the UNHCR arranges for permanent resettlement in third countries. The UNHCR bears the cost of their accommodation while in Hong Kong. On 15 May there were 7,758 such refugees under the are of the UNHCR in Hong Kong. A further 21,789 are in detention awaiting acceptance by UNHCR.

Since 1 January this year, 3,200 refugees have been sent

by the UNHCR from Hong Kong to third countries.

Refugee Rackets

4.

The totalquoted in the preceding paragraph includes 3,318 refugees brought to Hong Kong on the Huey Fong on 24 December 1978, and 2,639 who arrived on the Sky luck on 6 February. There are very strong grounds for believing that these vessels were engaged in an organised traffic in refugees for profit. Although the Masters of the vessels claim to have rescued the refugees from small boats on the high seas, there is clear evidence that they were in fact taken on board at a prearranged rendezvous in Vietnamese waters with the active assistance of

Vietnamese officials, and that the refugees paid, in gold, about £1,500 per adult and £750 per child.