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resettlement rate has only just kept pace with the combined arrival rate and birth rate in the camps. In MG's view the likely consequence of abolishing the closed camps and transfering the residents to open camps would be that Hong Kong would become again the magnet for peopic from Vietnam that it was between 1979 and 1981. There would be a sharp rise in the number of arrivals. with no corresponding increase in resettlement. As a result Hong Kong, which already has the largest number of boat people awaiting resettlement in South East Asia (and has done so for three years), would have to shoulder an even larger share of the burden. When additional factors such as the territory's extreme population density and the continuing burden of legal and illegal immigration from China are taken into account, it is understandable that local Hong Kong people would strongly resent such a measure. HMG's conclusion is that present circumstances do not make it possible to accept the Select Committed's recommendation that the closed camp policy be ended.
Circumstances in Which the FCO Would Withdraw its Sanction frown the Closed Camp Policy
13. It has never been either HMG's or the Hong Kong Government's intention that the closed camps should be a permanent feature of Hong Kong's refugee policy. The Hong Kong Government have always made clear that the policy is a temporary measure: if the flow of illegal departures from Vietnam viene to be reduced to a trickle, such deterrent measures would no longer be necessary. The sooner this happens the better pleased HMG and Hong Kong will be. However, the factors which determine the rate of departures are beyond the control of HMG or the Hong Kong Government, and depend on developments within Vietnam. This is the root of the problem. As long as the social and economic conditions imposed by the Hanoi Government make life within Vietnam intolerable for large numbers of people, they will continue to be attracted by the prospect of life in the West. Without some policy of detervence, Hong Kong will continue to be viewed as a convenient gateway to the "West: or, if the West will not take those leaving Vietnam, as a resettlement goal in itself.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Recommendation 3
More should be done to prepare the inhabitants of Hong Kong's reftigee camps for life after they are resettled, especially through training and upgrading of
skills.
14. The Hong Kong Government fully recognise the importance of ensuring that all refugees have access to adequate educational and training facilities while they remain in camps, in order both to prepare them: for their new life after they have been resettled and to stimulate their interest and reduce frustration and boredom. In the closed camps, education and training are provided joindy by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Hong Kong Government, with substantial assistance from voluntary agencies. (In the open camps, education and training are provided by the UNHCR who are responsible for administering the camps in
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