Over 100 surrendered and returned to Nepal in the past one year while around 50 in jails are awaiting deportation, according to the immigration officials. Nepali solicitor Ek Narayan Sharma said Nepalis have started to return home along with others from the South Asian countries after finding it very difficult to cope with the new laws. [break]
Sharma said the cases of surrender that started after the government passed a law last year to slap three years imprisonment and a fine of around Rs 500,000 on anyone found working illegally or doing business having stayed as refugee or torture victim, have increased after the government recently shortened the process of investigation. "Most of those claiming to be refugees or victims of torture after expiry of visa can stay for one year that includes a few months in Hong Kong jail," Sharma explained.
Hong Kong government is not legally bound to recognize the refugees as it is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention relating to status of refugees. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) can investigate the applications for refugee status and send the applicants to a third country but just 10 Nepalis have been successful in the past decade to get refugee status through the UNHCR.
The workers could choose the second option of claiming to be victims of torture and illegally work in the interim as the government took years to complete investigations. But the government has hired around 400 solicitors and trained them about torture and refugees so that the applicants can be interviewed in front of the solicitors. "It would take around 3-4 years in the past but now the process is completed in around six months to a year and the applicants have no option other than to return home," Sharma, who has also received solicitor training, stated.
Sharma revealed that around 500 of the 10,000 applying for amnesty on grounds of torture are Nepalis and no one has been successful although around 3,000 among the 10,000 cases were decided in the past three years. "If the application is found invalid the applicant is sent to jail for making false claims and repatriated only after serving up to one year in prison," Sharma added. "As there is bigger punishment for those staying longer illegally, the workers are seeking the prudent option of surrendering and returning home," he claimed.
The Office of the Nepali Consular General in Hong Kong said the Hong Kong government buys the deportees their plane tickets but they have to complete their prison sentence first. "Even those who offer to buy the tickets themselves have been sent to jail after surrender," Consular Kiran Shakya said.
Hundreds of workers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal are still being duped by agents into visiting Hong Kong in lack of proper knowledge about the strict new government policies. A group of Nepalis had arrived in Hong Kong a month earlier paying Rs 400,000 each to brokers. "We are trying to return home as we don´t see any chance to work here due to the new rule," said a worker who has applied for refugee status.
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