Put torture claimants to work in Hong Kong detention camp, says Nepali diplomat
Suggestion by consul-general, backed by pro-establishment lawmaker, to weed out ‘bogus’ cases slammed as contrary to human rights by minorities activist
Nepal has controversially urged Hong Kong to set up a detention camp so that people filing torture claims can work for their keep in the city, saying “bogus claimants” have caused unfair discrimination against legitimate nationals.
Baliram Prasad Dhami, the Nepalese consul-general to Hong Kong, said on Thursday he did not believe all Nepalis awaiting official verification of their claims were genuine applicants, despite strong criticism of Nepal by international human rights organisations in recent years.
“We can put them in some refugee detention camp [to let them have] bad experiences that life is not as it is [expected],” he said in a press conference jointly organised with pro-establishment lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun.
But the diplomat’s idea of putting claimants to work in the camp was slammed by a minorities activist as anti-human rights.
Executive councillor and former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee last month called for a camp to be set up in Shenzhen for asylum and torture claimants to stem the influx of economic immigrants to the city.
But Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying dismissed the idea, although he accused the refugees of causing great distress to the city.
Few Nepalis came to Hong Kong to seek asylum after the country’s civil war with Maoist militias ended in 2006. However, according to a Human Rights Watch report last year, the south Asian country made “virtually no discernible progress” in upholding promises of justice and accountability.