CONFIDENTIAL
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG : POLICY PAPER
22
MKK 243/3
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY
14 MAY 1985
I
INTRODUCTION
1/4
INDEX
10. Takr
as
1.
This paper surveys the problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong
Kong, attempts to predict how it will develop if policy remains as
it is now, and sets out possible options for improving the
position.
*
II BACKGROUND
ct
1975, over a
Since 1979 over
2. About 1.5 million people have left Indo-China since
million of them Vietnamese. Over half a million boat refugees from
Vietnam have arrived in first asylum countries including Hong Kong
and many more have certainly perished en route.
72,000 Vietnamese have left Vietnam under the Orderly Departure
Programme (ODP) administered by the UNHCR with Vietnamese Government
cooperation. Currently over 160,000 Indo-Chinese (some 36,000
Vietnamese) await resettlement in camps in the area.
been
104,000 Vietnamese have reached Hong Kong since 1975; none have
turned away.
All have been placed in camps pending resettlement
elsewhere. Hong Kong have themselves accepted 14,500 displaced
Indo-Chinese, mostly from Vietnam, for permanent settlement.
Kong's refugee population has now remained steady at 12-13,000 for
about two years.
This is more than the numbers of Vietname se
Hong
refugees in any of the South East Asian countries awaiting
(9,000), Indonesia (7,000), Philippines
resettlement, eg
(2,000).
Malaysia
UK RESPONSE TO VIETNAMESE REFUGEE PROBLEM : 1979 GENEVA CONFERENCE
3.
In January 1979, HMG
>
It was
agreed to admit 1,500 refugees from
Indo-China in addition to the 300 or So already here.
decided that, because of our responsibilities for the territory
1,000 of these should come from Hong Kong. In July 1979, at UK
initiative, a conference
was held in Geneva to deal with the
worsening refugee crisis. At that conference, the UK agreed to take
further
a
At
quota of 10,000 Vietname se
from refugees
Hong Kong.
though it is not
to confer group refugee status on
the same conference a general consensus emerged,
recorded formally in any document,
CONFIDENTIAL
*
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