Hong Kong is a society built by refugees, most arriving from mainland China during periods of political and social unrest. Throughout its history, this city has generally accepted asylum seekers, providing settlement or temporary protection despite its dense population and small geographical size.
Between 1975 and the mid-1990s, Hong Kong successfully integrated millions of people from the mainland, and coped with more than 200,000 asylum seekers from Vietnam.
But inadequacies in the government's current approach towards refugees have been highlighted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It announced recently that, because of budget constraints, it could no longer afford to support asylum seekers in Hong Kong while their claims were pending.
In addition, the ensuing debate about this decision has revealed common misperceptions - namely, that Hong Kong has no legal obligations towards refugees, and that the UNHCR has the primary responsibility to provide protection to refugees and asylum seekers.
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol have not been extended to Hong Kong.
Nonetheless, this city is still bound by the international legal principle of non-refoulement - which says refugees may not be returned to places where their lives or freedom would be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or holding a certain political opinion.
This principle is part of international law, and is binding on all states regardless of treaty obligations.