We note, however, that Hong Kong, a community of fewer than six million people, has resettled some 14,500 refugees and displaced persons from Indo-China since 1975, and is now offering 20 resettlement places per month. Britain, a nation of 56 million people, has resettled less than 13,000 Vietnamese refugees from Hong Kong since 1975 and is providing places at a rate of 40 per month only until the end of 1986, beyond which it has no commitment.
There is no programme for repatriating refugees to Vietnam. A total of 22 refugees have asked to return home, and 14 of them have gone. The other eight have been waiting since 1983 and there has apparently been no response from the Vietnamese government.
The Attorney General, Michael Thomas, addressing the Legislative Council in January 1986, rejected the idea that people who are not strictly refugees (as defined in the United Nations Convention and Protocol on The Status of Refugees) should be sent back to Vietnam. He said: "We could only do this provided that the government of Vietnam would accept them, and provided that we could be satisfied that they would not be treated inhumanely on their return. It (the Vietnamese government) has given no indication that it would be prepared to meet either of these provisions."
Despite the apparent lack of concern among many potential resettlement countries, and the lack of a repatriation programme, the number of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong is now declining steadily At the end of 1985 the figure was 9,443, down from 11,892 at the end of 1984. Predicting the total at the end of 1986 is difficult, but it may be below 6,000. Those who remain in Hong Kong's care are increasingly those whom it is most difficult to resettle.
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