Hong Kong accused of 'shifting its rhetoric' on refugees

A non-governmental organisation that advocates for refugees' rights in Hong Kong says the government is changing its rhetoric on protection claimants.

Justice Centre Hong Kong said that in a paper submitted to the legislature, the government called refugees and protection claimants "illegal immigrants" and referred to their "removal" instead of their "protection".

"To call legitimate refugees seeking protection illegal immigrants is disingenuous and alarming," Justice Centre advocacy officer Victoria Wisniewski Otero said.

Since a unified screening mechanism launched in March last year, "the government forces refugees who come to Hong Kong on valid visas to overstay and become illegal in order to even enter the system", she said.

Otero said the government had a responsibility to raise awareness and promote tolerance rather than negativity.

"The government's deliberate and misleading anti-refugee discourse is shameful and is feeding dangerous negative stereotyping and intolerance," she said.

In the document, which the Legislative Council's security panel discussed on July 7, the government said the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol had never applied to Hong Kong.