24 Sep 2015
The Immigration Department (ImmD) refused entry to Hong Kong to six Indian males at Hong Kong International Airport yesterday (September 23). All six passengers lodged claims for non-refoulement as soon as they were refused permission to land.
The six passengers, aged 16 to 34, arrived Hong Kong from Delhi, India, on the same flight yesterday. During immigration examination, they claimed to be travelling alone and to have no acquaintance with each other. All were refused permission to land as they failed to meet the normal immigration requirements on the same day. While waiting for removal, five of them lodged claims for non-refoulement through the same legal representative, while the remaining passenger did so through another legal representative.
All these non-refoulement claims are being processed. The ImmD will conduct further investigation on whether or not there is any person who intentionally arranged for these passengers to lodge claims for non-refoulement in Hong Kong.
A rising trend has been observed in which claimants have lodged claims for non-refoulement upon arrival in Hong Kong. There were 150 cases referred from control points (monthly average: 12.5 cases) in the period from March 3, 2013, to March 2, 2014. From the commencement of the unified screening mechanism on March 3, 2014, to the end of 2014, there were about 200 non-refoulement claim cases referred from control points (monthly average: 20 cases). In 2015, as at the end of August, the number of non-refoulement claims referred from control points was 228 cases (monthly average: 28.5 cases), which indicates a rising trend of lodging claims at control points.