TNAG-1786-FCO40-2546-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-closed-camp-policy-1988 — Page 170

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

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香港下亞川畢道

DIEU

SRD 602/8/C

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23

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

1 February 1988

Mr Chris Bale

Director

Oxfam

Room 604

Hong Kong Bank Building

673 Nathan Road

Mongkok

Kowloon

Даси ни Вива,

HKD 243/4

E

OXFAM Report

"Vietnamese Refugees in Hong Kong :

The Way Forward"

I refer to His Excellency the Governor's letter of 30 December 1987 and my own interim reply of 23 December. We have studied this report and have the following comments on it.

At the outset I should say that we welcome the report as a constructive contribution to discussion of this continuing problem and are grateful for the time and effort which OXFAM (Hong Kong) has devoted to its preparation. While we may have disagreements over points of detail, the report is a comprehensive and generally accurate account of the current refugee situation in Hong Kong.

The report refers to closed centres as "prisons". In fact the only resemblance between a closed centre and a prison is that both places are used for the confinement of people. In all other respects the closed centres are operated under a totally different regime with the refugees given as much freedom as is practically possible within the confines of their place of enforced residence. "Control" is not the main concern. Indeed C.S.D. staffing levels in the closed centres are in no way comparable with those required in a penal institution.

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