Immigration Detention (Information)
Dear Immigration Department,
Please can you confirm the following, for each 12 month period from April 2014 to April 2018' (the 'Relevant Period') ; as follows:
(a). The no. of individuals detained under immigration powers during the relevant period;
(b) Of those detained at (a); the following breakdown:
(i) Gender/(s);
(ii) Country/ies of origin;
(iii) Proportion of detainees who have been charged/prosecuted with prior (or ongoing) criminal offences;
(b) No. of incidents of Self-harm of suicide;
(c) No. of incidents of provision of emergency medical treatment/hospitalization
(d). The average duration of the periods individuals were held within immigration detention, (i.e. in days), during the relevant period;
(e). The longest single period of continuous immigration detention;
(f) The no. of those individuals as at (a)., who prior to their detention had made claims within the USM; (and of those, the no. of those individuals whose claims were ongoing during that period);
(g) The no. of those individuals as at (a), who during the period of their detention, lodged/submitted claims within the USM.
Yours faithfully,
Isaac Shaffer
Yours faithfully,
Isaac Shaffer
Our ref. : IL/00401988/19; ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
Our department has received your application for access to information on
14-6-2019. Your application is now under processing.
As time is required to gather information from various parties, we would
revert to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your kind attnetion.
Regards,
AU YEUNG Kar Yee
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Our ref. : IL/00401988/19; ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
Further to our interim reply in relation to your application for access to
information received on 14-6-2019, we hereby provide you the following
information:-
Item (a)
The available detention statistics are as follows:-
Year 2014 Year 2015 Year 2016 Year 2017
10,045 10,972 10,749 10,948
NB: Statistics of 2018 is not available.
The above statistics are available at:
[1]https://id/publication/AnnualReport2017/...
The Immigration Department does not maintain the breakdown information of
detainees.
Items (b) and (c)
The Immigration Department does not maintain the requested statistics.
Generally speaking, detainees who complain of or appear to be suffering
from illnesses or injuries will be provided with adequate medical
attention.
Items (d) and (e)
The Immigration Department does not maintain statistics on the duration of
the periods in which individuals were held under immigration detention.
Items (f) and (g)
The Immigration Department does not maintain statistics on the status of
the detention concerned in relation to the lodging of claims.
I hope you will find the above information of use.
Regards,
AU YEUNG Kar Yee
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [2]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Dear Immigration Department,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of the Immigration Department's handling of my FOI request 'Immigration Detention (Information)'.
1). The extensive delay in releasing the figures for detention for 2018 is unreasonable, and otherwise unacceptable.
2. The matters within this request are of considerable public importance and are integral to the Governments obligations and the relevant duty of care.
3. The information requested should be reasonably obtainable from relevant records.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/immigra...
Yours faithfully,
Isaac Shaffer
Our ref. : IL/00401988/19; ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
I refer to your application for internal review of the access to
information application (ref.: ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)) received on 10
August 2019. You may wish to note that the Department, under the Code on
Access to Information, is not obliged to create a record which does not
exist. In order to create the requested statistics that we do not
maintain, substantial resources will be required. The internal review was
completed and we hereby provide you the following information:-
For item (a), the available detention statistics from 2014 to 2018 are as
follows:-
Year 2014 Year 2015 Year 2016 Year 2017 Year 2018
10,045 10,972 10,749 10,948 11,510
The Immigration Department does not maintain the breakdown information of
detainees.
For items (b) to (g), please be informed that the Immigration Department
does not maintain the requested statistics and our last reply on these
items is maintained.
I hope you will find the information useful.
Regards,
AU YEUNG Kar Yee
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Our ref. : ImmD RM/6-5/10/2020/112 (R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
Our department received your application for access to information on 6
March 2020. We hereby provide you the following information.
Item (i)
The available detention statistics are as follows:
Year 2017 Year 2018 Year 2019
10,948 11,510 10,053
The above statistics of Year 2017 and 2018 are available at
[1]https://www.immd.gov.hk/publications/a_r...
Item (ii)-(iii)
The Immigration Department does not maintain statistics on the duration of
the periods in which individuals were held under immigration detention.
Item (iv)-(v)
The Immigration Department does not maintain statistics on the status of
the detention concerned in relation to the lodging of claims.
I hope you will find the above information of use.
Regards,
SUM Henry Ka Hing
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [2]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Dear Immigration Department,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Immigration Department's handling of my FOI request 'Immigration Detention (Information)'.
The omission of relevant data (whether as it is not retained, or inadequate efforts have been made to collate it) is not in the public interest, nor in keeping with relevant obligations.
These matters are clearly of public interest - they relate to the protection(s) of fundamental constitutional rights and significant public expenditure.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://accessinfo.hk/en/request/immigra...
Yours faithfully,
Isaac Shaffer
Our ref. : ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243 (R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
Our deparment has received your application for internal review of the
access to information application (Ref: ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)) on 7th
April 2020. Your application is now under processing.
As time is required for gather information from various parties, we would
revert to you as soon as possible. Thank you for your kind attention.
Regards,
SUM Henry Ka-hing
for Director of Immigration
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [1]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
Our ref: ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243 (R)
Dear Mr Shaffer,
I refer to your application for internal review of the access to
information application (ref: ImmD RM/6-5/10/2019/243(R)) received on 7
April 2020. Further to our interim replies on 16 April 2020, your request
for a review has been considered in accordance with the Code on Access to
Information (“the Code”) and I am authorized to give you a substantive
reply as follows.
Item (a)
The detention statistics released to you on 19 August 2019 would be
maintained. The Immigration Department does not maintain the breakdown
information of detainees.
Item (b) to (g)
The Immigration Department does not maintain the requested statistics and
our last reply on these items is maintained.
You may wish to note that the Department, under the paragraph 1.14 of the
Code, is not obliged to create a record which does not exist. In order to
create the requested statistics that we do not maintain, substantial
resources will be required.
Reference could be drawn to the Code of Access to Information government
webpage quoting compendium of cases, where complaints have been made to
the Ombudsman on the non-compliance of the Code^#. In a case where the
requested records/statistics were not readily available and substantial
resources would be required by the department concerned to create the
records, the Ombudsman considered that in not entertaining the request,
the department had acted according to the Code and no maladministration
was found.
As laid down in paragraph 1.26 of the Code, in case you are not satisfied
with our reply, you may lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman, whose address
is –
30/F, China Merchants Tower
Shun Tak Centre
168-200 Connaught Road Central
Hong Kong
Telephone : 2629 0555
Fax : 2882 8149
Regards,
SUM Henry Ka-hing
for Director of Immigration
Reference:
^# See “Code on Access to Information –Compendium of Cases” – Case 1:
[1]https://www.access.gov.hk/en/referencema...
To learn more about the application requirements and procedures of the
most frequently used services provided by the Hong Kong Immigration
Department, you are welcome to visit the Easy Access Playlist at Hong Kong
Immigration Department [2]YouTube Channel. The concerned video clips have
Cantonese voice-over supplemented by Chinese or English subtitles.
