TNAG-1418-FCO40-1901-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 175

Home Affairs Committee

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Third Report from the Home Affairs Committee.

Refugees and asylum, with special reference to the Vietnamese

At the outset, the Committee points out the need to distinguish between immigrants and refugees, and stresses that our duties towards refugees are particularly great. Refugees are not only much fewer in number but have left their country of origin from necessity rather than choice.

The Report has three distinct aspects:

(1) Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong

Reasons for concern are:

Hong Kong's camps contain 11,900 Vietnamese, and the

number has declined only slightly since 1981.

Many have spent years in the camps. 18% have been there more than five years.

Arrivals since July 1982 have been confined to

'closed camps'. The effect is that 6000 refugees,

not convicted of any crime, are being held in prison- like conditions on British territory for a period to which no limit has been set.

There will shortly be children of school age who were

born in the closed camps and have never been outside.