Asylum Seekers Urge HK To End Their Legal Limbo

A group of asylum seekers who say they have been stuck in Hong Kong for over a decade are appealing to the government to grant them documentation that would allow them to move on with their lives.

They say Hong Kong's system for screening asylum claims has clearly failed them, as they've wasted more than a third of their lives going through the process.

The group held a protest outside the Legislative Council on Wednesday, but covered their faces and were reluctant to reveal their real names, as their cases are still in the process of either being screened, appealed, or judicially reviewed.

They either want to be allowed to stay in Hong Kong legally, or be given documentation that would allow them to leave for another country.

An asylum seeker at the protest – who calls himself Mr K – said they just want to be treated like human beings.

“Over 10 years, somebody took that freedom and put [it] somewhere. At the end of the day, we are asking ourselves, are we human beings in this planet or what?” he lamented.

“If I’ve committed a crime, you condemn me for a month or a year. And you know, after that year you are free. But in this situation, you don’t know how long are you going to [wait to] be free. You don’t know how long are they going to keep you,” he said.

Asylum seekers aren't allowed to work in Hong Kong, and Michael, who arrived in the SAR in 2005, said the support they get from the government isn't enough. He also said they should be helped to leave.

Michael said asylum seeker shouldn’t have to wait until they are in their 50s or 60s until they get a decision.

“Let us live our own lives. If you can’t keep us here, give us a chance to go somewhere so that people can live their lives,” he said.

Civic Party lawmaker Dennis Kwok is trying to help the group.

He said there are about 20 people who have been stuck in limbo in Hong Kong for a long period of time. He said unlike what some people in society say about asylum seekers using up local resources and being a nuisance, these people don't even want to be in the city.

“They have genuine fears about going back to their own countries. I believe them, because if they could really go back to their own country, they would have gone back already,” said Kwok.

“They wouldn’t be stuck here for over 15 years and doing nothing with their lives. So these people have genuine fears. Whether we accept that or not, I think we should at least help them move on, move away from Hong Kong so that they can find a new life elsewhere,” he said.

The group said granting these requests to those who have been in Hong Kong for more than 10 years, without a criminal record, is the only way to normalise their lives.