TNAG-1786-FCO40-2546-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-closed-camp-policy-1988 — Page 207

OXFAM

樂施會

KAITAK OPEN CENTRE

Since July 1982, all refugees arriving in Hong Kong have been placed in closed centres, and so the number in open centres continues to fall from April 1 1986 to November 1 this year it fell from 4,201 to 3,020, a drop of 28 per cent.

Earlier this year the old Jubilee centre in Shamshuipo was closed and the residents moved to Kaitak. There were fears of trouble, and a fence was put up to keep the two communities apart. In fact, the transfer has gone more smoothly than feared. The gates in the fence are now open later in the evening and tension has eased.

But Kaitak is still a sad place. The 3,000 residents have all either been born in the centre or have lived there for more than five years - 947 have been waiting for more than seven years. Most have been repeatedly passed over for

resettlement.

About one third of the people are ethnic Chinese and almost one third were born in Hong Kong. 418 of them (14 per cent) are single young men, a group that is particularly difficult

to resettle.

The refugees are free to enter and leave the centre as they please. They can work outside and have many of the freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong citizens, and most of them are decent, law-abiding people.

There is, however, a significant crime problem at Kaitak. It is hard to quantify in figures, but the police, the agencies, the government and the refugees agree that drug abuse, gambling, pickpocketing and petty theft are all problems.

It is a chicken and egg situation. People have waited so long and been rejected so many times that it is hardly surprising that some become anti-social. But once a refugee has a criminal record, his chance of resettlement virtually disappears and he is then doomed to wait indefinitely.

Further disruption is on the way at Kaitak. The government plans to close the Argyle Reception Centre "sooner rather than later" and transfer its work to Kaitak. But by mid-1989 two-thirds of the Kaitak site will have to be cleared to make way for approach roads for the Tate's Cairn tunnel. The government is now looking for a new site for an open centre, but a spokesman told us the search was proving extremely difficult.

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