The High Island Detention Centre () was a
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
built near the West Dam of
High Island Reservoir
The High Island Reservoir, located in the far south eastern part of the Sai Kung Peninsula, was opened in 1978 helping to alleviate water scarcity, water shortage problems in Hong Kong. Its water capacity is approximately 273 million cubic ...
for hosting
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. s and
boat people from Vietnam. The area is now a flat piece of grassland that is grazed by cows. It has a pavilion that leads out of the strip of land.
The Centre was initially managed by
Hong Kong Police
The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...
, and then by the CSD from 1991.
The construction of the Centre was delayed by two months after concerned
Sai Kung
Sai Kung may refer to:
* Sai Kung Town, or just Sai Kung, a town and administrative area in the Sai Kung District, Hong Kong
* Sai Kung Peninsula, a peninsula in Hong Kong
* Sai Kung District, an administrative district in Hong Kong, which does no ...
residents staged a sit-in at the site.
It opened in 1989 and closed in May 1998. During that period, more than 20,000 boat people passed through its doors.
See also
*
Vietnamese people in Hong Kong
Many of the Vietnamese people in Hong Kong immigrated as a result of the Vietnam War and persecution since the mid-1970s.
Backed by a humanitarian policy of the Hong Kong Government, and under the auspices of the United Nations, some Vietnames ...
*
Vietnamese refugee detention centres in Hong Kong
Between 1978 and 2000, a number of detention centres were formed by the Corrections Department in Hong Kong for the internment of Vietnamese refugees. As the government of Hong Kong took more actions against the refugees, tightened restrictions ...
References
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Vietnamese refugees
Refugee camps in Asia
Former buildings and structures in Hong Kong