TNAG-1418-FCO40-1901-Hong-Kong-Parliamentary-Sub-Committee-on-Race-Relations-and--1985 — Page 52

BEHIND BARBED WIRE

Recent Developments Concerning the Future of

Vietnamese Refugees in the Closed Camps of Hong Kong

May, 1985

書

Refugee children in Hong Kong: locked up in a closed camp.

In December 1984, the British Refugee Council published a booklet entitled Behind Barbed Wire, which drew attention to the shocking fact that 6,000 Vietnamese refugees are being held in prison-like camps in the British colony of Hong Kong. It represented the collective view of the BRC's Asia Committee, which had, for many months, been urging the governments of Britain and Hong Kong to review this policy.

The booklet described the background to this situation, explaining why, in December 1982, the Hong Kong Government had decided to place all newly arrived refugees from Vietnam in 'closed camps' administered by the Correctional Services Department. It went on to express the BRC's unequivocal opposition to the closed camps, pointing out that they violate international conventions regarding the treatment of refugees to which Britain is a signatory.

Behind Barbed Wire, which contains an eye-witness account of conditions in the closed camps, was submitted in evidence to a sub-committee of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, which was engaged in an investigation of Britain's treatment of refugees, with special reference to the Vietnamese.