Vision First offers short-term financial aid that is not intended to replace or even supplement government assistance. We shall continue to support destitute refugees when and where our resources allow it.
We emphatically state that refugees should not be reduced to begging for their daily survival. That is a cruel and immoral situation in light of the government’s financial reserves and purported respect for human rights.
As a reaction to the problem of refugees being made utterly destitute, today Vision First members will start to submit complaint letters to the Legal Aid Department requesting that the failed welfare provision be judicially reviewed by the High Court.
The aim is to encourage rapid procedural changes to a policy that, by design and by intent, causes greater hardship than most observers care to admit.
Hong Kong Government is under a legal obligation to meet refugees’ basic material and financial needs, since they are barred from working in one of Asia’s most expensive cities. Refugees are under the impression that they are forced to work to give authorities an excuse to deport them as undesirable criminals.
As a Srilankan refugee wisely said, “If you don’t allow me to swim than you must put me in your boat. If you throw somebody into the river with his hands tied behind his back – then you are murdering him!”
click above to download, print and fill in this complaint letter