TNAG-1726-FCO40-2439-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 240

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MR YEUNG:

Sir, may I refer the Secretary

Is it possible

to the second paragraph of his reply.

that no comparable figures are available from other countries of first asylum because they are not susceptible to the pressures exerted by the Office of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in the same way as the Hong Kong

Government and therefore do not necessarily provide any

vocational training for Vietnam refugees?

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: No, Sir, that is not quite the

case. We have not got the figures from other countries of

first asylum because we have not been able to get them in

the time available to reply to this question. There is no particular pressure put on the Hong Kong Government by

the UNHCR in this matter. If we wish to do a costing

exercise to find out precisely how much money was spent

on vocational training it would be possible to do so

but I wonder whether it would be worth the time and

effort involved.

MR. SOHMEN:

Sir, in the absence of early

prospects for settlement for a majority of the Vietnamese

refugees, what use is the vocational training put? In other words, after receiving vocational training, what do the inmates in the closed camps do after they have received

this training.

SECRETARY FOR SECURITY: Well, I think, Sir, we have to fall back on the old adage here of the 'devil finding work for

idle hands to do' and it is undoubtedly that provision

of vocational training in the closed camps does keep the

refugees occupied. It also avoids management problems and potential security problems which would perhaps otherwise arise. And as I have said earlier, I believe it does assist in

their integration in resettlement countries.

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