LettersOn World Refugee Day, will Hong Kong give asylum seekers something to cheer about?
- By denying refugees the chance to integrate here, Hong Kong is denying its own multicultural history
“She is black, push her out of the train,” screamed some students on a rainy school day. Samantha (not her real name) and her nine-year-old daughter were dragged off the MTR in the northern New Territories and forced to wait in the pouring rain. Samantha is an asylum seeker but, having spent 17 years in Hong Kong, she speaks Cantonese, and her children are fluent speakers too. She regularly helps at her children’s school, and is considered a parent representative. Unfortunately, her asylum claim has been pending for almost two decades, denying her the right to work, forcing her to survive on meagre government handouts and support from non-governmental organisations.
RUN is one of the NGOs providing a lifeline for the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers. Its mission is to provide rehabilitation through sport and education, with a special focus on women who are victims of torture and sexual violence. In Wong Chuk Hang, RUN’s vibrant centre is busy with women getting ready for a hike or studying. These women are resilient and courageous, and by denying them a right to integrate into the Hong Kong community, Hong Kong obscures its own multicultural past.
RUN has no access to government funding and is supported by volunteers, businesses, private individuals, and the local sports community. Many in Hong Kong are willing to support long-term asylum seekers and refugees in our community, but political will to implement this change is missing.
This World Refugee Day will be like any other day at RUN, where staff will give compassion to keep participants going through the day and focused on their upcoming exams or races, while they wait for a host country that is willing to accept them.
Virginie Goethals, co-founder and managing director, RUN Hong Kong (www.runhk.org, [email protected])