Criminalizing the innocents: social exclusion of asylum-seekers and refugees in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

This article examines the Hong Kong refugee policy and its relationship to local people’s attitudes towards asylum-seekers and refugees, since the launch in 2014 of a new mechanism to assess their claims. Based on an analysis of debates between 2015 and 2018 in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, government statements and documents, media reports, two surveys on local people’s attitudes and an NGO interview, I argue that the government has sought to criminalize asylum-seekers by forcing them to breach Hong Kong’s immigration law. The article suggests that a pragmatic, inclusive approach would help the government to promote ethnic harmony in the territory.

KEYWORDS:

• Asylum-seekers
• refugees
• Hong Kong
• social exclusion
• criminalization. (Total no of words: 6996)

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the reviewers and the Editors for their constructive comments and to Johnny Wong, Sai Htong Kham for research support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See: https:/www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/what-is-a-refugee/.

2. Immigration report, Jan-Jun 2018: see https:/www.immd.gov.hk/eng/facts/enforcement.html.

3. Ibid.

4. For more on the Rohingya crisis, see the UNICEF website: https:/www.unicef.org/emergencies/bangladesh_100945.html.

5. Part IIIA of the Hong Kong Immigration Ordinance (Cap 115) provided for the detention and screening of Vietnamese Refugees, and section 13F created a Refugee Status Review Board.

6. See the government press release of 7 February 2014: https:/www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201402/07/P201402070307.htm.

7. LC Paper CB(2)1832/14–15(03); LC Paper No. CB(2)110/16–17(06); LC Paper No. CB(2)110/16–17(07); LC Paper No. CB(2)529/18–19(03).

8. See the website of the Hong Kong International Social Service: http://www.isshk.org/.

9. LC Paper No. CB(2)3163/05–06, p.5 & p.9.

10. LC Paper No. CB(4)1458/16–17(02).

Additional information

Funding

The paper is supported by the Dean’s fund, the Seed fund and theGeneral Research Fund (No. 18611418)

Notes on contributors

Isabella Ng

Isabella Ng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian and Policy Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong.