Faster screening of asylum seekers in Hong Kong, but 2,600 cases still before appeals board
- Fresh applications to Immigration authorities are down from 1,500 in 2021 to 455 in February
- ‘Exceptional and complicated’ asylum cases take longer to be processed, says Security Bureau
Six years after fleeing Yemen and arriving in Hong Kong, Suleiman* remains separated from his wife and son, uncertain if they can be reunited to start life anew somewhere else.
His claim for non-refoulement, the city’s de facto asylum status, failed in 2018. He appealed to the Torture Claims Appeal Board the same year, but has yet to learn his fate.
“Every day in Hong Kong, I die a little,” the 41-year-old told the Post.
Hong Kong passed a raft of legislative changes more than a year ago to speed up the screening of asylum seekers and prevent abuse of the process, but Suleiman and others continue to wait for the outcome of their cases.
The city does not grant asylum as it is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. But it offers non-refoulement, an assurance that asylum seekers will not be sent to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured.
