TNAG-1786-FCO40-2546-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-closed-camp-policy-1988 — Page 101

MAR 29 '88 11:47 TIB(OOU) HK GOVT

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POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

THE CLOSED CAMP POLICY

Hong Kong introduced the closed camp policy in July 1982, partly as a security measure to contain unrest between Northem and Southem Vietnamese refugees which threatened to affect the local community, and partly in an attempt to deter others from coming to Hong Kong. Restrictive living conditions are justified as contributing to this deterent factor, and people in the camps are not permitted to leave or in any way to assume responsibility for their daily lives.

An all-party British Parliamentary report condemmed this policy, under which Innocent Vietnamese are "treated in effect as prisoners with unlimited sentences." The refugees often describe themselves as feeling like prisoners.

"Unfortunately I came to Hong Kông after the 2nd July 1982. So I was put under arrest in Chimawan closed centre for an indefinite period.” (letter 2) -

ASSESSING THE POLICY

For some years after its introduction, the closed camp policy appeared to be successful. Refugee -numbers dropped steadily from 1982 to 1985, but they are now on the rise again. Most refugees Interviewed said that they did not know of the closed camp policy before setting out from Vietnam, but that such knowledge would not have disuaded them from attempting to escape the country.

Aid agencies coudt both the success and tite morality ui diused vampo,

UNHCR representative Fazlil Karim told reporters in March "A restrictive policy is no solution. The closed camps have not worked.”

Celso Romanin, formerly chaplain to the refugees, says in a 1988 newsletter "To treat some people harshly in order to deter others is immoral and untenable. It is one of the models used for the imprisonment of criminals -- and even there it is subject to debate."

The Hong Kong government admits that there is no proof that the closed camps are an effective deterrent, but maintains that there is equally little evidence that arrivals would not be vastly higher if the policy did not exist. But the matter has been debated in the Legislative Council recently, an Indication that the government may be reconsidering.

"After years of this policy the problem is still with us" chairman of the Legislative Council's ad hoo committee on refugees told reporters in February 1988.

REPATRIATION

The government questions whether recent arrivals are truly political refugees, suggesting rather that they are economic opportunists seeking a better life overseas. Aid agencies maintain that the distinction is meaningless, since much of the refugees' economic distress is directly related to political repression, such as the imprisonment of the breadwinner.

Agencies and government agree that repatriation to Vietnam is the only long term solution, but Insist that Hanoi must guarantee that ex-refugees are not persecuted.

An Oxfam report of December 1986 states "If agreement could be reached on repatriation the scale and complexion of Hong Kong's refugee problem would change dramatically...There are praceing humanitarian reasons for the international community to relax its attitude to Vietnam, to be willing to begin discussions with the Vietnamese authorities...Countries of resettlement and countries of first assylum need jointly to approach Vietnam for discussions on repatriation...Such an initiative has never been tried."

It is essential that international pressure be brought to bear on Hanol to resume talks. In March 1987 Hong Kong's principle assistant secretary for refugees Ken Woodhouse sald "We have been proposing this for two years, but Britain has not felt it appropriate to approach Hanol".

While many refugees speak of eventual return to their homeland, they all profess themselves unwilling to return to the communist regime. "I will kill myself, we all will, before they can pass us to the communists," declared Nguyen Due Vihn, in Argyle closed camp. Psychologists warn that prolonged confinement brings with it a tendency to hyperbole,but social workers say there would be a real danger of widespread suicide if refugees were to be repatriated.

Any repatriation agreement would affect only those refugees arriving after the agreement was announced. It would not apply to those already in closed camps.

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