Screening called 'unfair' as Viets bid for refugee status

The Government's refugee screening policy was condemned yesterday as 'inconsistent and unfair'.

Ethnic Chinese boat people Nong Van Sui, Vuong Khac Luong, Tran Khai Hung and Tran Van Tien are appealing in the High Court against a decision to recognise as refugees only 300 out of a group of 417 Vietnamese migrants. The case will affect the remaining 117, who have spent years in Hong Kong camps.

Legal firm representative Krista Ma Yan-wing said outside court that the boat people left 'were excluded just because the quota was full'. She criticised the Government's policy and said it allowed 11 per cent of boat people to be classified as refugees compared with 25 per cent in most Asian countries.

Sui, 28, Luong, 34, and Hung and Tien, both 35, were among 450 ethnic Chinese forced to abandon their homes for resettlement in remote areas of Vietnam in the late 1970s.

They were sent to the economic development area of Ha Giang during a period of anti-Chinese persecution.

The Immigration Department said the applicants were not granted refugee status because the position had improved. But Ms Ma said: 'Many ethnic Chinese still face restrictions there.' The hearing continues before Mr Justice Brian Keith.