Vietnamese refugees, Migrants and Illegal Immigrants

Since 1975, Hong Kong has received more than 200 000 people from Vietnam. No Vietnamese asylum seeker has ever been turned away.

          Despite its tiny size and overcrowding, Hong Kong has also absorbed some 15 000 Indo-Chinese people since the late 1970s. At the end of 1998, 1 026 Vietnamese refugees, 638 Vietnamese migrants and 577 Vietnamese illegal immigrants were in the HKSAR. This was after the resettlement of more than 143 000 Vietnamese refugees in other countries and the repatriation of more than 67 000 Vieamese migrants and 3 367 Vietnamese illegal immigrants to Vietnam. The remaining population is much less than the highest number of 64 300 in October 1991.

          With the formal conclusion of the internationally agreed Comprehensive Plan of Action, and in view of the changed circumstances in Vietnam, the HKSAR ended the port of first asylum policy for Vietnamese with effect from January 9, 1998.

          In practice it means the special statutory provisions on the screening for refugee status and related review procedures for Vietnamese cease to have effect on new arrivals from that date. These people are treated in the same way as are illegal immigrants from elsewhere. That is, they will be repatriated as soon as possible. There is no question of pushing them out to sea. With the declining Vietnamese population, the New Horizon Vietnamese Refugee Departure Centre was closed in March and the High Island Detention Centre, Hong Kong's last Vietnamese detention centre, formally closed in May.