Hong Kong Easter egg hunt raises money for asylum seekers
Organisers hope to increase awareness of problems facing refugees as government weighs measures to deal with growing backlog of applications
Some 2,500 people took part in an Easter egg hunt on Friday on Ma Wan to raise money to support asylum seekers in Hong Kong amid mounting unease about how the city handles a rise in torture claimants.
The charity event is in its sixth year having ballooned from humble beginnings in 2011, when just 40 took part.
Organisers reached out to a local NGO called Vine Community Services Limited (VCSL), which offers support to over 300 asylum seekers by helping supplement the allowance they receive from the government.
The charity supports claimants from war-torn African countries, alongside a number of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Indonesia and Iraq.
The organisers, who hoped to raise HK$50,000, invited asylum seekers attached to the NGO to attend the hunt.
The event comes as government officials weigh in on contentious measures to deal with Hong Kong’s increasing backlog of applications on asylum and torture grounds that need to be screened.