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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Starry Lee in the Legislative Council today (April 1):
Question:
It has been reported that recently there is an upward trend of cases of South Asians or Africans entering Hong Kong illegally or overstaying in the territory. Some of them even resort to seeking political asylum as a "cover" and hence are permitted to stay in Hong Kong temporarily. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the respective numbers of foreign nationals entering Hong Kong illegally, overstaying and taking up employment illegally in Hong Kong in the past three years (with a breakdown by their country of origin); and among them, the respective numbers of those who applied for political asylum, were granted political asylum, appealed against rejection of their applications, and were repatriated to their places of origin eventually;
(b) the average time it takes from the lodging of an application for political asylum to the application being approved or the repatriation of the applicant to his place of origin; what assistance and services the authorities provide to the applicant during this period; and
(c) the current number of people who are allowed to stay in Hong Kong temporarily while the authorities are considering their applications for political asylum; and among them, of the number of those who have been found to have taken up employment in Hong Kong?
Reply:
President,
Our reply is set out below.
(a) The respective numbers of foreign nationals arrested for illegal entry, overstaying and taking up employment illegally are as follows:
Year* 2006 2007 2008
----- ---- ---- ----
(i) Illegal Entry
-----------------
Nationality South Asian 272 1,410 957
or African
Others 599 640 660
------ --- ----- -----
Total 871 2,050 1,617
(ii) Overstaying
----------------
Nationality South Asian 1,342 1,309 917
or African
Others 434 462 335
----- ----- ----- -----
Total 1,776 1,771 1,252
(iii) Illegal Employment
------------------------
Nationality South Asian 85 91 299
or African
Others 419 404 341
----- --- --- ---
Total 504 495 640
(* when the arrests were made)
The United Nations' 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees does not apply to Hong Kong. Claims for refugee status lodged in Hong Kong are dealt with by the Hong Kong Sub-office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)(Note 1). According to UNHCR, statistics on refugee claims handled between 2006 and 2008 are as follows:
Year 2006 2007 2008
---- ---- ---- ----
(i) Asylum seekers
------------------
Nationality South Asian 2,406 1,452 456
or African
Others 75 172 279
----- ----- ----- ---
Total 2,481 1,624 735
(ii) Recognised refugees
------------------------
All Nationalities 55 30 46
As at end-February 2009, there are about 210 persons who have been refused refugee status but are staying in Hong Kong pending the result of appeals. In the past three years, there were about 1 200 persons who departed Hong Kong (including voluntary departures and removals/deportations) having had lodged a claim for refugee status previously.
(b) According to information from UNHCR, a claim for refugee status normally takes two to eight months to process.
As for the time between UNHCR's conclusion of a claim and the removal of the person from Hong Kong, it varies considerably from case to case depending on the individual circumstances (e.g. whether the person is accepted for entry by overseas authorities). No general statement can be made in this respect.
On humanitarian grounds, the Administration, in collaboration with non-governmental organisations and on a case-by-case basis, offers in-kind assistance to asylum seekers who cannot meet their basic needs while their claims are being processed. The assistance offered includes temporary accommodation, food, clothing, other basic necessities, appropriate transport allowances, counselling and medical service.
(c) As at end-February 2009, there were 1,058 asylum seekers whose removal was suspended by the Immigration Department pending UNHCR's final determination on their claims.
The Administration has not kept statistics on asylum seekers who have been found taking up employment in Hong Kong. Overall, the law enforcement departments intercepted a total of 1,639 foreign illegal workers between 2006 and 2008.
Note 1: On the other hand, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment applies to Hong Kong. Torture claims made under Article 3 of the Convention are dealt with by the Immigration Department.
Ends/Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:48
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