Date of Award
2014
Degree Type
UG Dissertation
First Advisor
Prof. Roman DAVID
Abstract
About 6,000 refugees, asylum seekers and torture claimants (collectively “protection claimants”) are struggling to survive in Hong Kong. It is undoubted that they are an underprivileged and marginalized group in Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong is not the signatory of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, protection claimants do not enjoy legal status or formal rights to welfare services in Hong Kong. Without the right to work, protection claimants must survive on $1,500 a month for accommodation and bags of food equivalent to $1,200, or they may risk to work illegally in Hong Kong. This thesis examines how Hong Kong refugee policy affects the life of protection claimants in terms of right to work, food assistance and accommodation allowance. These factors are of paramount importance to the life of protection claimants. Drawing on qualitative participant-observations and in-depth interviews with protection claimants, it demonstrates the primary and secondary consequences that caused by the current refugee policy. Additionally, this thesis discovers how protection claimants react to the policy, revealing that the Hong Kong current refugee policy puts protection claimants into dilemma.
Keywords
refugee policy, protection claimants, right to work, accommodation allowance, food assistance
Copyright
The copyright of this dissertation is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited.
Recommended Citation
Man, K. K. (2014). How does the Hong Kong current refugee policy affect the life of protection claimants? (UG dissertation, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/socsci_fyp/8