TNAG-1182-FCO40-1484-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-the--1982 — Page 98

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Parliamentary Unit

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PS/Lord Belstead Mr Donald

Mr Freeland

Mr Burrows

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PRIORITY WRITTEN PQ : HONG KONG : VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

1.

I submit a draft reply to a Parliamentary Question by

Sir Patrick Wall MP for priority written answer. The Department's

Legal Counsellor concurs. Replies to 3 other written PQs by

him have been submitted separately.

2.

Since the mid-70s Hong Kong has been one of the major

destinations for Vietnamese boat refugees. In 1979 there were

some 68,000 in the territory awaiting resettlement.

Many of

these were resettled in other countries, mainly the United

States, Canada and the UK, and the number in Hong Kong fell

to about 10,000 in April 1982.

3.

Although the outflow from Vietnam has dropped the

diminishing number of resettlement opportunities and the seasonal

resumption of a refugee outflow from Vietnam has resulted in

an increase in numbers in Hong Kong, now almost 12,000. As

a result and to deter any further influx the Hong Kong Government

introduced on 2 July a policy of housing all newly arrived

refugees in closed camps where they would not have, as previously,

opportunities for employment. The policy of closed camps was

brought into effect by the Immigration (Amendment) Ordinance 1982

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