VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
Hong Kong faces a major problem as one of the main places of first
asylum for Indo-Chinese refugees. It is one of the most overcrowded
places in the world, yet has the highest number of Vietnamese boat
people (12,600) awaiting resettlement. It is therefore shouldering a very heavy burden indeed.
I should like to say how impressed I was when I visited Hong Kong's refugee camps in September 1983 by the sympathy and dedication with which the Hong Kong authorities, in cooperation with the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the voluntary
agencies, care for the refugees.
[RESETTLEMENT]
Since 1979 some 18,000 Vietnamese refugees, most of them from Hong
Kong, have been resettled in the UK. I can assure the House that we
are making every effort, in cooperation with UNHCR and other
countries, to seek permanent solutions for those who are still in
Hong Kong and other places of first asylum.
ICLOSED CAMPS
DEFENSIVE]
I am aware that Hong Kong's practice of placing newly arriving
refugees in closed camps has received some adverse publicity in
recent months. The need for this policy is indeed regrettable. But
the Hong Kong Government can see no alternative as long as the rate
at which refugees are resettled in third countries remains so low.
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