The Hong Kong government, in its treatment of asylum seekers, is apparently trying to be humane. However, the effect of its policy is the exact opposite of what it intends, rewarding those who are most undeserving, and harming those who are most deserving. Why?
There are some 7,000 people from South Asia and Africa seeking asylum in Hong Kong, making their claims to either the refugee agency UNHCR or the Hong Kong government. Some asylum seekers are fleeing torture, or political, ethnic or religious persecution; others are seeking economic advantage. Poverty in fact is closely linked to violence and persecution in developing countries, making it often difficult to separate the two streams.
A very few, lucky asylum seekers will have their claims decided upon favourably and will resettle in North America or Europe. The vast majority, however, will be rejected, will appeal, and will end up waiting in Hong Kong indefinitely, perhaps eventually to be deported or they will voluntarily return home. While claims are assessed, the Hong Kong government provides them with a very minimal life - HK$1,000 a month in rent aid, plus several bags of groceries every month and emergency health care, but prohibits them from working.
Hong Kong's policies appear, at first glance, to be reasonable. Understandably, the government does not want the city to be flooded with tens or hundreds of thousands of people seeking asylum after hearing of generous aid polices. At the same time, the government is desperate to avoid having destitute asylum seekers starving to death on the city's streets; thus, it provides a bare minimum of assistance.
However, a major problem is that the screening procedures of UNHCR and the government are inadequate, sometimes giving the undeserving refugee status, while denying the most deserving. They can also be unbelievably lengthy, taking five or more years to complete. If comprehensive refugee policies were implemented, and the process was speeded up, they could become a model of effective, humane government.
At present Hong Kong's approach towards asylum seekers doesn't work. While it should uphold international standards and grant legal status to people seeking asylum, and eventually allow those it recognises as refugees or victims of torture to stay, it actually denies them durable solutions, indirectly benefiting the wrong people.
Economic asylum seekers flourish, while political asylum seekers suffer. Illegal work in Hong Kong is easily available and difficult to prosecute. So while those who come to Hong Kong to work can easily do so and return home after a few years, others are forced to work because of the lack of sympathetic refugee policies. Still others, especially those who have faith in the UNHCR and the government, believe that prosecution for illegal work would jeopardise their chances of being accepted as a refugee. So they refuse to gamble by working, but only wait, hovering on the edge of absolute poverty and brooding over the impasse to which their lives have brought them.