TNAG-1373-FCO40-1819-Ministerial-visits-from-the-UK-to-Hong-Kong-1985 — Page 83

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journalists and other

interested

Refugee Council (BRC) who in

"Behind Barbed Wire" about the

with the BRC

BRC and discussed with

British

groups, particularly the

December 1984 produced a pamphlet

·

camps Mr Luce both corresponded

them their detailed criticisms of

the camps. Where possible their recommendations for improvement

conditions have been implemented by the HKG.

of

Report of Home Affairs Sub-Committee on Race Relations and Immigration (SCORRI)

4.

SCORRI'S recent report "Refugees and Asylum with Special

Reference to the Vietnamese" included a number of recommendations

relating to the problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. A Home

Office White Paper in response to the report was published on 26 September. With regard to the refugee situation in Hong Kong, it

announced the following:

(i)

(ii)

HMG's decision, in accordance with SCORRI'S recommendation,

to accept for resettlement some 500 refugees who have

relatives in the UK

the UK but who would normally fall outside the Home Office's immigration criteria for family reunion cases. (Most of these are in camps in Hong Kong, but a few will come from other places of first asylum in South East Asia);

are

prepared to

that, depending on

the willingness shown by other resettlement countries to respond to Hong Kong's needs, HMG consider accepting further limited numbers from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Government would similarly be

prepared

into Hong Kong from

camps, but again this will depend on other countries' response to the UK's initiative;

(iii)

present

to

absorb

limited numbers

possible to

agree

the

to

circumstances do not make it SCORRI's recommendation that Hong Kong's closed camp policy be ended. In HMG's view, abolition of the policy would cause

sharp rise in the number

in Hong Kong,

a

consequently an

unacceptable

camp population in Hong Kong.

of arrivals

and

unmanageable

and

rise in

the

CONFIDENTIAL