TNAG-1424-FCO40-1907-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 58

From The Minister of State

Richard Luce MP

PA

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

05

HUCK 24315

RGIN RE ERY

20 March 1985

SH

Дети Дениці,

103

Thank you for your letter of 13 March to Geoffrey Howe, on behalf of Mrs Elsie Elliott CBE of 35 Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong, Kowloon about Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. As Minister of State with responsibility for the Far East, I have been asked to reply.

Mrs Elliott's letter makes a number of points about the treatment of refugees in Hong Kong. It may be helpful if, before addressing these points, I provide some general background information about the refugee situation in Hong Kong, and in particular about the closed centre policy.

Hong Kong has shouldered an enormous refugee burden in recent years. More than half a million people have left Vietnam by boat since 1975 and of these over 100,000 have arrived in Hong Kong. Although it is one of the most densely populated places in the world, Hong Kong has turned none away: all have been given temporary asylum pending resettlement. Hong Kong has also accepted` 14,500 displaced Indo-Chinese for permanent settlement. For the first few years the rate of resettlement from the refugee centres in Hong Kong was satisfactory but by 1982 it had fallen considerably, while large numbers of boat people continued to arrive. As a result the number in Hong Kong began to rise and their prospects of resettlement grew worse.

The Hong Kong Government introduced in July 1982 a policy of placing newly arriving refugees in closed centres, from which they are not permitted to seek outside employment. This step was taken with great reluctance, but it was considered essential to try to discourage people from setting out from Vietnam for Hong Kong. Since the closed centres were established, the arrival rate has slowed but a flow nevertheless continues. As long as the problem lasts, the Hong Kong Government can see no alternative but to continue the policy of closed centres. The closed centres are run by the Hong Kong Government with the cooperation of the UNHCR, who help to fund them.

We are of course most concerned about the plight of these refugees and as I said when I gave evidence to the Race Relations

Dennis Canavan Esq MP

House of Commons

LONDON

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