TNAG-1733-FCO40-2446-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 244

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More than 5,000 beat people arrived in Hong Kong during the first five months of 1988. A further 2,621 have arrived so far in June. All but a handful of these

stet

people are ethnic Vietnamese and more than 70% come from percent

North Vietnam and have no connections or

connections or family links outside Vietnam. Their prospects for resettlement in third countries under current criteria are neglegible. They have swelled our total refugee population to over 16,000 - a figure higher than at any time since 1980 - and are stretching our resources for their reception, accommodation, and care to the limit. The three existing closed centres are full

are full to bursting point, and three additional temporary closed centres have had to be opened to house the continuing flow of arrivals.

Resettlement places to match the current arrival rates of boat people in Hong Kong, or elsewhere in this region, are simply no longer available. The

The major resettlement countries are increasingly unwilling to accept these people, particularly ethnic Vietnamese from North Vietnam, as

as refugees for resettlement purposes. Indeed, it is widely believed that. a large proportion of the Vietnamese boat people, particularly those arriving in Hong Kong, are not refugees, and that they are not leaving Vietnam, in the terms of the 1951 UN Convention on the status of refugees, because of a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social or political grouping." They are simply people seeking a better life.

Repatriation for those accepted by Hong Kong as refugees can only be done on a voluntary basis and all efforts to produce a satisfactory agreement with Vietnam on the repatriation of the large numbers of their citizens who continue to arrive in Hong Kong have so far met with discouraging results. The Vietnamese authorities steadfastly refuse

refuse to consider accepting the return of their people except on a case by case basis.