TNAG-1917-FCO40-2721-Interdiction-of-Vietnamese-refugees-at-sea-1989 — Page 50

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* OUR Ref.:

LM to CR 2/2/4821/75

* YOUR Ref.:

I.R.A. MacCallum, Esq.

c/o Wilkinson & Grist

6th Floor

Prince's Building HONG KONG

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD HONG KONG

17th September, 1982

Dear Mr. MacCallum,

Thank you for your letters to the Attorney General dated 28 June' and 14 July 1982, concerning the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 1982 and the Immigration (Vietnamese Refugee Centres) (Closed Centre) Rules 1982. Since the new law concerns a matter of immigration policy it is appropriate for me to reply to your letters.

You will, I am sure, appreciate that the Government decided on a change of policy in respect of its treatment of Vietnamese refugees only after a careful and thorough review and in the light of all current circumstances - including the outflow from Vietnam, the policies of other countries of first asylum in the region, and the resettlement offers and options now open to us.

So far as your criticisms of the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 1982, in your letter of 28 June, are concerned, I do not accept the statement that "the Director of Immigration has been given the power to imprison Vietnamese refugees for an indefinite period". The Director of Immigration has been enpowered to detain in a closed refugee centre any refugee seeking to enter Hong Kong on or after 2 July this year. This detention is essentially the result of a voluntary act on the part of the refugee, who has illegally entered Hong Kong waters. At every stage of the initial reception process, all refugees are advised (in English, Chinese and Vietnamese) of Hong Kong's new policy, and of the fact that, if they wish to enter Hong Kong as refugees, they will be detained in a closed centre until such time as they leave Hong Kong - be it for resettlement, repatriation or onward travel. The latter remains always an option .open to them if they wish to exercise it. Moreover UNHCR representatives visit the centres regularly and see and speak to refugees.

There is no question of depriving any person so detained of "the benefit of legal process for an indefinite period". The Director of Immigration's new powers are provided within the framework of the existing Immigration Ordinance, so that the act of any immigration officer may be reviewed by the

•

./Director