CNN shines the light on homeless refugees
Sep 4th, 2014 | Advocacy | Comment
A special CNN feature about individuals who dedicated their lives to charitable organizations and philanthropy around the world is schedule to run in coming weeks, having as focus the Refugee Union.
The Refugee Union has surged in recent months as a core player in the promotion of refugee wellbeing, ensuring that the plight of refugees is not just considered a serious issue, but is causally related to Hong Kong Government’s scandalous treatment of its vulnerable members.
As such the union has attracted several media inquiries, and its members have spared no effort to explain that by abdicating its responsibility towards refugees who sought its protection, Hong Kong is retreating from legal, moral obligations and welfare duty towards individuals it banned from working.
The union brought to our attention the plight of a member who had been sleeping on the streets. Now we are pleased to report that the refugee featured in this email was urgently accommodated into a guesthouse. Although the Social Welfare Department appears unable to consistently guarantee that homeless refugees are taken off the streets, if vigorously encouraged, social workers at the SWD appear to be in fact capable of settling refugees in less than 24 hours.
To borrow from the colourful vocabulary of Professor Larry Diamond to the South China Morning Post, we cannot then but query whether the neglect of refugee welfare is tantamount to lifting a giant middle finger in the face of legal and moral obligations. Hungry and homeless refugees who waited months after pleading for emergency assistance would find it hard to disagree.
In the words of a claimants, “The welfare [Social Welfare Department] told me to wait two or three months. I told them I have no money, no food and I cannot work…. The officer said to wait for a call from the ISS. I live outside since March…. I understand that Hong Kong doesn’t want refugees to come here so they punish us.”
Refugees seem to understand well that that the way they are treated is not just unfair, but in their view this unbearable gap in the commencement of assistance is created with the twofold aim of encouraging voluntary departures and forcing them to find their own means of survival However, working illegally ensures their imprisonment and loss of credibility for having breached their conditions of stay as protection claimants.
It must throughout be born in mind that the authorities are mistaken when claiming that assistance-in-kind is provided on humanitarian grounds – such as airborne food drops over overseas camps – thereby appearing to reject any legal basis for providing welfare to asylum seekers. In fact Hong Kong Government is at fault when it fails to meet the legal requirements of the High Court “Usman Butt” case (HCMA 70/2010).
“A genuine torture or refugee claimants deserves sympathy and should not be left in a destitute state during the determination of his status. However, his basic needs such as accommodation, food, clothing and medical care are provided by the Government” – Justice Cheung.
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Email to SWD on homeless refugee
Sep 2nd, 2014 | Advocacy | Comment
Reports and Financial Statements (Aug 2013)
Sep 1st, 2014 | VF updates, programs, events | Comment
New-arrivals are in need of care and concern
Sep 1st, 2014 | Media | Comment
Refugee rejected by HK settles in NZ
Aug 30th, 2014 | Media | Comment
Compare with the South China Morning Post article on the same refugee dated 3 April 2014:
Transgender refugee goes through ‘hell’ in Hong Kong to be recognised as a woman
SWD claims it is powerless about homeless refugees
Aug 29th, 2014 | Advocacy | Comment
In the evening of 27 August 2014 Vision First interviewed 15 new protection claimants who were sleeping rough under the arches of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. “Tonight many refugees are not here because is rainy and wet. Maybe they sleep on the floor in a friend’s room or inside buildings and staircases at Chung King Mansions and Mirador Mansions” said an African refugee who has slept outside for three months.
These protection claimants arrived between March and August 2014 and, after lodging asylum claims, were released by Immigration Department with recognizance. They are therefore neither overstayers, nor illegal immigrants. It is an affront to allow vulnerable individuals fleeing for their lives to be treated like animals on the streets of Hong Kong through government negligence that leaves them destitute, hungry and often sick.
A refugee from India narrated his SWD registration, “I told the Welfare Department that I have nothing to eat and I am sleeping at Star Ferry every night. They said that they cannot help me because there is a process and I have to wait 2 to 3 months for a phone call. I begged for help because I have nothing to eat and they gave me the meal times of a place in Chung King Mansions.”
Several refugees joined in and a wiry young man produced a wrinkled Meal Time notice handed to newcomers by SWD in Yau Ma Tei as an alternative to government services. Vision First queries whether the SWD has an agreement with this charity to refer legions of hungry asylum seekers who are in the government’s care. A refugee from Central Africa reported that staff at this agency was frustrated by the pressing demand for food and he noted that probably they were unaware the SWD sent them over. It is noteworthy that the Meal Time notice appears unofficial and does not bear any logo.
This group of homeless refugees shared similar experiences. They had told SWD about their predicament; they had begged for help; there was no intake process or assessment; they were bounced with negligent indifference: “There is nothing we can do”, “We will call you in 2 to 3 months”, “You must wait for a phone call”, “There is a process and many claimants are in the queue”, “We cannot help you”, “You must wait for ISS to call you”, “Don’t come back here”.
It is disturbing that government welfare officers are turning a blind eye to human suffering.
It is unacceptable for the SWD to delay emergency assistance to destitute refugees with the excuse of a backlog. A savvy refugee who required medical services after weeks on the streets noted, “If there are too many refugees to register, why doesn’t the government hire more people? They warn us that we will go to jail if we work and then they give us nothing to eat and no shelter. How can we live three months with nothing?”
At stake are the well-being, health and security of vulnerable newcomers who have a legitimate expectation that their basic needs will be met by Hong Kong Government through the services of the Social Welfare Department. Vision First calls on the SWD to urgently address this problem that is causing great suffering and is damaging Hong Kong’s reputation for human rights in the international community. The cost of failing to protect refugees as well as the shame derived from it, is not insignificant.
