TNAG-0892-FCO40-1102-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 121

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عليكم

WORKING PUER ON HONG KONG

Prepared by UNHCR

1. UNICR is extremely grateful to the Hong Kong Government for its humane policies of asylum and care which have ensured the survival and the dignity of the refugees. UNHCR is also well aware of the difficulties faced by

the Hong Kong Government as a result of the recent dramatic increase in

the rate of arrival of Vietnamese refugees.

2.

It is evident to the international community that the refugee situation in South East Asia is of crisis proportions. UNHCR hopes that this appreciation will lead to effective measures to resolve the problem.

3. In the context of Hong Kong, it goes without saying that UNHCR wishes to be of maximum help to the authorities. There are, however, constraints imposed on UNHCR. These relate to the over-all level of available resources and to resettlement opportunities, both of which must be forthcoming from the international community. For UNHCR, as well as for the Hong Kong Government, the essence of the problem is to attain lasting solutions.

4. One of such solutions is resettlement elsewhere. UNICR has made, and

will continue to make, every effort to ensure that as wide a range of countries as possible will provide resettlement opportunities for refugees in Hong Kong. To facilitate this, UNHCR will systematically register all such refugees in order that their dossiers can be submitted to potential countries of resettle-

With this in mind, UNHCR's staff in Hong Kong, both international and local, has been and is being strengthened.

ment.

5.

However, on the basis of present readings, and unless there is a dramatic increase in the over-all number of resettlement places, it would be unrealistic to expect that the majority of the refugees would be resettled elsewhere in

the near future. Working on the basis of. the present refugee population of . some 55,000 and an average movement of 500 to 800 persons per month, it would

take some five to nine years if all the refugees were to be moved.

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6. In these circumstances, therefore, it becomes necessary to consider

additional measures which could lead to the achievement of lasting solutions. One of these, in keeping with INICR's approach to refugee problems throughout the world, would be the local settlement of a number of refugees in Hong Kong. In this respect UNHCR would be prepared to consider proposals from the Hong Kong Government to assist with the provision of permanent housing.

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