• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

CHAPTER VI: COPING WITH ETHNOCIDE: LIFE IN THE CAMPS: Introduction. Several asylum seekers has been incarcerated all over the world, yet a very limited information is available to the researchers and general community regarding the living conditions in the refugee detention facilities. Most of the refugee detention centers are considered as a security issue by the governments rather than a grave humanitarian issue. When the asylum seekers are not detained they are assigned to remote international borders or to areas generally inac­ cessible to the general public. This chapter describes the day to day life of the asylum seekers and their transition in the detention centers. Camp management practices and it's impact on the life of the detainees, the general profile of a camp, social service facilities in a camp, camp amenities, how the asylum seeking community is organized in the camps, survival strategies of the asylees as well as strategies developed by the asylum seekers to cope with the consequenc­ es of Ethnocide, such as various economic activities in the camp, role of religion, psycho social problems in the camps in general, and the role of community development activi­ ties in the camp are discussed in relation to the process of Ethnocide is discussed in this chapter. The process of com­ munity disintegration and the roots of this process is explored in this chapter. Separation and segregation of asylum seekers creates a phenomenon of community disorganization and demoralization. This process has both individual and group consequences. The most important observation made is about the direction of change. The changes taking place are self destructive and negative. Mostly, this phenomenon is worse than the situa­ tion they experienced in their own country. The Vietnamese asylum seekers are legally, socially and institutionally segregated and separated from the Hong Kong population. Asylum seekers are under the administrative detention as per the Immigration laws of British - Hong Kong Government for the past four years, with out a legal trial. Detaining a person without the benefit of legal trial is against the basic principles of English Law. The detention centers ( generally referred to as camps) are in the suburbs or in uninhabited outlying islands. In gener­ al, the Hong Kong public is largely unaware of the life or 103 living conditions in the detention centers. The press and the public are barred from the camps. Only the camp admin­ istration staff, United Nations High commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials, few religious persons and some social service agency staff are allowed to visit them during normal office hours. UNHCR and social service staff leave the camp after office hours. The immigration laws under which the Vietnamese are detained is based on the British Prison Laws with certain amendments. The detention of asylum seekers is against the basic spirit of 1951 Convention on the status of refugees, and Interna­ tional Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) proposed by the United Nations general assembly to control the unrestricted flow of humanity from Vietnam during the late 1980s does not author­ ize detaining asylum seekers. The British - Hong Kong government's social ostracism of asylum seekers is often orchestrated through the xenophobic public utterances of the appointed members of Hong Kong law making body. The British - Hong Kong government has passed necessary regulations to bring migrant workers from other overseas countries to ease acute labor shortage. But any suggestion to employ the Vietnamese is met with rejection. Forty two percent of the asylum seekers in Hong Kong are under eighteen years old. The immigration ordinance allows to impose a condition on any refugee that he or she shall not become a student in a School, University or other educa­ tional institutions. Unlike rest of Hong Kong, child asyl- ees and refugee children are not required by law, to attend school. The camp schools are not registered or supervised under the Education Ordinance of Hong Kong. The quality of education offered to the refugee children is questionable. Differential management practices of detention centers The Vietnamese are under the administrative detention in the following detention centers. Chi Ma Wan Detention Center (Upper and Lower Camps), Hei Ling Chau Detention Center, Green Island Reception Center, White Head Detention Center, Argyle Street Detention Center, Lo Wu Detention Center, Tai A Chau Vietnamese Holding center, High Island Detention Center, Nei Kwu Chau Detention Center, Victoria prison and Sek Kong Detention Center. 104 Even though all the detention centers come under uniform rules, the daily management pattern varies from camp to camp. The difference in the daily administrative practice has profound impact on the life situation of people living in the detention centers. Depending upon the administrative practices, the level of community participation and the pattern of participation varies. So does the ability of the population to cope with the stress of being a detainee. In the camps managed by the Correctional Service Department (CSD), and Hong Kong Housing Service for Refugees (HKHSR), there is an elected community representative structure. But in the camps managed by the police, the community leaders are appointed after a police verification of the candidates. The Hong Kong Police department, Hong Kong CSD, and HKHSR are the key administrators of the refugees, asylum seekers and the asylum seekers who are determined as non refugees. The Civil Aid Society, a largely volunteer group is also involved in the running of some small camps. The overall coordination of the refugees and asylum seekers is under the administration of the Security branch of British-Hong Kong Government. The differential management practices in the camps, affect the basic rights of the camp residents. The management practices vary from the relative freedom in Tai A Chau camp to the complete segregation of the asylees in the camps based on gender, separating husbands, wives and children, and locking them up in huts after sunset in Lo Wu, and Green Island camp. In some camps even music systems, pocket radios and other personal items are confiscated by the management through very personal and subjective deci­ sions of the camp manager. The physical appearance of the detention centers is often intimidating. High security fences, closed circuit surveillance cameras, barbed wires, primary and secondary fences, high power security lights, guard posts on the perimeter road to the 'no man's land' and complete security inspection of the visitors and the service agency staff is a routine. The physical changes experienced by the asylum seekers are: a new place to live, mostly a bed space in a crowded three tier bed system without any privacy or personal space. A family or group of five live in a bed space of 8 ft. by 6 ft. by 3 ft; crammed with all their belongings. Usually only a thin cotton curtain separates them from the next family. For several asylum seekers this space has been their home for the past five years. They are not even able to stand up in their bunk space. Hong Kong's criminal prisoners have space to stand up in their cells. 105 The bed space itself is assigned by the camp administra­ tion. Asylum seekers have very limited or no option regarding the selection or use of their space. In most cases there is no special provision for the elderly, disa­ bled, women or families with small children to get a bottom bunk preference in bed space allocation. Most asylum seekers have little or no personal possessions. During winter all of them are exposed to the severity of the weather. When the summer heat rises to 45 o C, the metallic Nissan huts are no protection against the heat. At least in five centers the asylum seekers are locked in their huts during night, ostensibly for their own security, but with little regard for their safety in case of a fire or an emergency. They are confronted with new diseases. The spread of HIV virus is a real threat. Officials from the Department of Health reported 106 new cases of venereal disease out of a total of 400 people seeking medical treatment last year, in the White Head Detention center holding 22,888 Vietnamese asylum seekers (SCMP, August 25, 1992). Deteriorating nutritional status and extremely limited self care facilities are contributing to the lowering of health standards. The overall biological changes experienced by them have to be explored in detail. The medical facilities and access to proper and relevant information is always a concern for the service agency staff and the asylees them­ selves. On 28 June 1990, a Vietnamese woman, mother of a small child, died on the way back to High Island Detention Center after being discharged from the Prince of Wales Hospital, where she had been sent as an emergency case earlier in the day. A number of witnesses reported that it had taken five minutes to resuscitate her when she fainted in the police truck which was carrying her back to the detention center. Despite her repeated pleas to take her back to the hospital, the Police refused to do so. Apparent­ ly she did not have the correct referral papers (Leonard Davis 1991). There is no scope for the asylum seekers to organize them­ selves politically and gain political power to influence decisions related to their own future. All forms of communi­ cation channels with the outside world and between them­ selves and different sections within the camps is con­ trolled. The service agency staff are ordered to make sure that access to the telephone is controlled or supervised. Even some of the Humanitarian Aid and Social Service Agency Personnel unplug their own telephone instruments and carry it with them while they are away from their office.

Load more

  46

Copy Link