TNAG-2067-FCO40-2945-Vietnamese-boat-people-unaccompanied-minors-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 16

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

From The Minister of State

The Hon Francis Maude MP

Sir Trevor Skeet MP House of Commons

London

SW1A OAA

1

23 March 1990

HKB 243 /15

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY

DESK

INDEX

03 APR 1990

ER

Dear Tran

Thank you for your letter of 30 January enclosing one from your constituent, Mr Chris Hall of 60 Falcon Avenue, Bedford, about unaccompanied Vietnamese children in the camps in Hong Kong. I am sorry for the delay in replying.

The unaccompanied children in camps in Hong Kong tend to fall into two categories, namely those whose parents have already reached the West and those whose parents remained behind in Vietnam. In a very large number of cases, the children are in the care of uncles or aunts in a wider network of extended Vietnamese families. This makes it difficult to estimate the total number of unaccompanied children in Hong Kong, but we believe the Committee will be asked to consider something in the region of 5,000 cases.

Very few orphans have been identified. Those who have no parents tend to be absorbed into family groups, usually of relatives, and in such circumstances adoption is not usually considered to be the best option for the child.

There has only been one case of adoption of a Vietnamese child in recent years, and this was by an expatriate family living in Hong Kong.

Children whose parents are already in the West would rejoin them under family reunion arrangements. Those whose parents are still in Vietnam have often been sent out in the hope that they will be resettled in the West and will thereby establish a foothold from which the rest of the family can be drawn in. If they have no genuine claim to refugee status, they will be returned to their parents: the practice of sending children alone out of Vietnam carries high risks for the child and is something we would wish to discourage. Ultimately, we hope that all people who wish to leave Vietnam will choose to do so by means of the Orderly Departure Programme, rather than by making the journey to Hong Kong.

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