the UNHCR. This programme will commence very soon using the New Horizon school at the Kai Tak open camp and a second school to be established near Yuen Long. Both are exclusively for refugee children and there will be no mixing of refugee and local children. It is
is hoped that once sufficient school accommodation becomes available, this schooling programme can be extended to all children in the closed camps. This will be a major first step towards liberalisation.
Work.
The
The most important step in the liberalisation process will be allowing the refugees to leave the closed centres to go to work. The UNHCR will request a voluntary agency to commence an employment placement service to the closed centres immediately. service will identify employment opportunities and make arrangements for placement.
programme would start gradually by placing those refugees with skills in employment and identifying training needs for others. There would be no sudden dumping of unskilled workers on the labour market. The end result of the employment programme will be that the refugees will become economically independent.
The
Recreation. The closed camps, particularly San Yick, have insufficient recreational space and it is recommended that refugees be permitted to leave the camps for recreational purposes. In the early stages recreational activities will take place in organised groups, but upon full open camp status the refugees will be permitted to leave the camp without supervision as they are now at the existing open centres.
The other aspect of liberalisation will be the
the transfer of management responsibility from the Correctional Services Department to voluntary agencies nominated by the UNHCR (and using the labour of the residents).
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It would not be possible in practice to establish a uniform programme of liberalisation for all of the camps. The objective would be to complete the process of liberalisation within six months at the Tuen Mun and Sham Shui Po closed centres and then to hand over full operational responsibility to the UNHCR. At San Yick it will not be possible to achieve full liberalisation and open centre status
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