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MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE
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the area and as a practical means of solving Hong Kong's problem. Like UNHCR we see voluntary repatriation as the most desirable long term solution although we realise the political obstacles. In the case of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong this has been shown to be unrealistic in present circumstances. Involuntary repatriation is probably the only course likely to act as an effective deterrent, but is generally unacceptable. Local integration, also proposed by UNHCR, is generally opposed by the first asylum countries such as Thailand which feel that they have already borne their fair share of the burden. We should however encourage UNHCR to explore any possibilities of neighbouring countries taking in the unresettled residue from Hong Kong and elsewhere.
(
3,000
B. HONG KONG
15. This question must be considered within the context of HMG's overall responsibility for Hong Kong as a dependent territory of the United Kingdom. Under the provisions of the Letters Patent and Royal Instructions, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary is responsible for all aspects of Hong Kong's internal and external affairs. The problem of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is one of many subjects on which the Governor of Hong Kong looks to the Secretary of State for guidance and support.
The size and composition of Hong Kong's Refugee Population
16. There are at present some 12,800 Vietnamese refugees in camps in Hong Kong awaiting resettlement in third countries. Despite the declining rate of departure from Vietnam, Hong Kong's refugee population has gradually increased since April 1982, owing to the growing reluctance of resettlement countries to accept refugees from Hong Kong (see Part II below). About 50 per cent of the refugees currently in camps in Hong Kong are from North Vietnam. This proportion is increasing, because of the lower resettlement rate for Northerners. Northerners are more difficult to resettle than Southerners since they are less likely to have family ties overseas, and tend to be less skilled. Resettlement countries tend to be reluctant to regard them as "true" refugees, classifying them instead as "economic migrants", since they have often left Vietnam in order to improve their living standards rather than from fear of persecution on political, religious or racial grounds. They are however treated as refugees by the UNHCR and under Hong Kong law. (Although the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees has not been extended to Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Immigration Ordinance contains special provision for Vietnamese Refugees to remain in Hong Kong pending permanent resettlement elsewhere).
The Need for Resettlement
17. When refugees first started to leave Vietnam by boat in 1975, it was generally considered that resettlement in other countries was the only real option open to them. Western countries were quick to respond to the crisis, and by 1984 over half a million Vietnamese had been resettled, mainly in the US, Canada, Australia and Western European countries (see chart VI). Since 1982, however, the response by potential resettlement countries has been more negative. This is attributable in part to high domestic unemployment (80 per cent of the adult Vietnamese refugees resettled in the UK, for example, are unemployed); in part to previous difficulties in assimilating Vietnamese refugees into local communities; and in part to pressure to take refugees from other areas of the world. Attention has instead turned to other solutions, outlined below. They have been considered by HMG in consultation with other resettlement countries: however for the reasons given they are not likely to be practicable for the refugees who are at present awaiting resettlement in Hong Kong.
(a) Voluntary Repatriation
Voluntary repatriation, wherever feasible, is considered by UNHCR to be the most desirable solution to refugee problems. UNHCR have organised voluntary repatriation programmes for some/3,00-Khmer land refugees from Laos and some 2,300 Lao from
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