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1 - REFUGEES IN HONG KONG : HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PRESENT SITUATION
1. The boat-people historical background
1975: after two wars and 35 years of conflict, peace was expected to be back at last in that part of the world once called Indochina.
The war was over, but peace was not really back. In Vietnam, millions of people were sent to the so-called "re-education camps".
1979: a week before Christmas, the Hai Hong, an old ship of remote days, with 2 400 refugees on board made known to the entire world the boat-people's tragedy.
It's nearly eleven years now since the first Indochinese people started to escape from their countries, and yet they are still flying, although in smaller numbers; nonetheless, 34,142 of them are still awaiting a durable solution in the refugee camps of Hong Kong (9,443), Malaysia (8,456), Indonesia (6,568), Thailand (4,891), Philippines (2,744), Japan (857), Macau (677), Singapore (235), Korea (208) and China (63) (U.N.H.C.R. 31/12/85).
2. The asylum policy in Hong Kong
Since 1978, over 100,000 Vietnamese refugees have disembarked in Hong Kong. Over 90,000 were resettled in third countries with UNHCR cooperation, and Hong Kong itself accepted over 14,000 boat-people. However, there are still 9,443 refugees in Hong Kong, with a gloomy future.
Until 1982, the Governement policy was to welcome refugees openly. They were settled in "open centres" and were allowed to work in Hong Kong and/or move around.
The policy of humane deterrence
Hong Kong stretches over hundreds of tiny islands, with a total of 1,000 sq.Kms. But it's also one of the most populated places in the world (5,000 inhabitants per sq. Km). In August 1982, the Governement decided to open special camps, which are but prison-camps, also called "closed camps" in order to dissuade boat-people from landing on its shores.
About one half of the Hong Kong refugee population is presently sheltered in the "open centres" of Kaitak and Jubelee, which are administered by UNHCR, Caritas and the local Red Cross, whereas the other half is confined in four "closed camps", under the control of the Government:
* CHI MA WAN, with 2,500 refugees, all from South Vietnam
* HEI LING CHAU, 2,400 refugees, from North Vietnam
* BOWRING and CAPE COLLINSON, with total of about 1,500 refugees
The policy of humane deterrence doesn't seem to have had the expected outcome. The number of arrivals did not drop to a dramatic extent, and part of the results achieved may be ascribed to the general decrease due to the "Orderly Departure Programme".
Furthermore, Western countries have revised their resettlement policy, and the quotas were reduced. Hong Kong did particularly suffer from this new trend.
Given the situation, it's quite obvious that life in the camps, especially in the closed camps, is a daily tragedy.
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