Hong Kong has long been known as a haven for Asians fleeing war and famine, but recently, the former British colony has been criticized for its stringent treatment of asylum seekers.
长期以来，香港以亚洲人逃避战乱和饥荒的避风港而闻名，但最近这个前英国殖民地却因对待寻求避难者过于严厉而受到批评。
The city's asylum policy came under the spotlight with the arrival of the fugitive Edward Snowden, who left Hong Kong last month for Russia after he was sought and charged by the U.S. for releasing classified information from the National Security Agency.
香港的难民政策由于斯诺登(Edward Snowden)逃亡抵港而受到关注。他因公布美国国家安全局(National Security Agency)机密信息受到美国的追捕和指控，已于上月离开香港去往俄罗斯。
Now, under pressure from the city's top court, Hong Kong, which reverted back to Chinese rule in 1997, is changing the way it handles its asylum seekers.
如今，迫于香港终审法院的压力，该市开始改变对待申请避难者的方式。香港于1997年回归中国。
The city government in the past had refused to handle many asylum requests, effectively outsourcing them to the local office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which helps relocate the refugees it recognizes outside Hong Kong.
港府以前一直拒绝受理很多庇护请求，而是将这项工作外包给联合国难民署(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)香港办事处。申请者如得到难民身份确认，该办事处会帮忙将其安置在香港以外的地方。
The city's reluctance to process asylum seekers on its own has been unique among developed jurisdictions, says Philip Karani, who heads Hong Kong's UNHCR office.
联合国难民署香港办事处负责人卡拉尼(Philip Karani)说，香港不愿自己处理申请避难者事宜，这是发达司法管辖地中非常独特的现象。
This month, though, Hong Kong said it would begin handling all asylum requests on its own by the end of the year, following the March court ruling.
不过，在今年3月香港终审法院宣布裁决结果后，香港政府本月说，将在今年年底之前开始亲自处理所有难民申请。
The government how has set aside 450 million Hong Kong dollars (US$58 million) for the 2013-14 budget year to help create the unified system of processing. That money will also go to support funding for legal assistance and welfare assistance for refugees. Full details about the programs aren't yet available. There are no current plans for quotas.
港府已为2013-14预算年度预留出4.5亿港元，帮助建立统一的申请处理系统。此外，这笔款项还将用于难民法律援助和福利援助的支持资金。香港尚未公布这一系统的全部细节。目前还没有关于资金分配的计划。
The shift is unrelated to Mr. Snowden's appearance.
这一变化与斯诺登事件无关。
Mr. Snowden chose to leave Hong Kong because he feared he would be imprisoned while his extradition and potential asylum cases dragged out. He has been stuck in the transit zone of Moscow's airport evidently without travel documents, although he has been offered asylum by Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
斯诺登选择离开香港是因为他担心，自己的引渡和避难申请如果久拖不决，这一过程中可能被关进监狱。他现在因没有通行文件而一直滞留在莫斯科机场过境区，虽然玻利维亚、尼加拉瓜和委内瑞拉表示原意向他提供庇护。
Hong Kong's switch on refugees is drawing praise because it should shorten the yearslong waiting process for refugees and allow them to appeal rejections in court. But it has also drawn attention to the city's tough stance on refugees.
香港在难民问题上的态度转变赢得了外界赞许，因为此举应该会缩短难民长达数年的漫长等待，并且允许他们将不授予难民身份的决定上诉到法院。但同时，这也引发了外界对香港在难民问题上强硬立场的关注。
Forced by a prior court order, Hong Kong in 2004 agreed to start processing cases in one category of asylum requests: those where the asylum seekers claimed torture. Critics, though, say its track record on such cases has been poor. Indeed, since 2009, the city has approved only nine out of 3,504 processed cases, according to official data, an approval rate of just 0.3%.
鉴于以前的一道法院判令，香港已于2004年同意着手处理其中一类难民申请，即声称受到酷刑而提出避难的申请。不过批评人士说，香港在处理这类申请方面表现不佳。官方数据显示，2009年以来，香港共受理了3,504份酷刑避难申请，只批准通过了九个，通过率仅为0.3%。
The UNHCR in Hong Kong, which screens people fleeing from persecution and war, has an approval rate in Hong Kong of closer to 10%.
联合国难民署香港办事处负责的是迫害和战争避难申请，申请通过率接近10%。
The two numbers aren't directly comparable because it is harder to prove a torture claim, which requires evidence the person might be tortured upon return.
这两个数字不能直接进行对比，因为证明申请人将受酷刑的难度更高，须拿出此人回去后可能会遭受酷刑的证据。
Hong Kong's government says its screening mechanism is fair. 'The only reason that a torture claim is rejected is that there is no substantial ground to justify that the claimant will be in a danger of being subjected to torture,' a spokesman said. Even taking that difference into account, human-rights experts say Hong Kong's approval rate is extremely low.
港府说其筛查机制是公平的。港府发言人说，以可能遭受酷刑为由提出的避难申请被拒的唯一原因是，没有确凿的证据证明申请人将有遭受酷刑的危险。**专家说，即使将这一差异考虑在内，香港的避难申请批准率也非常低。
Critics say Hong Kong's low approval rate is ironic, given the city's long history of embracing refugees, which after World War II made up as much as a third of its population.
批评人士说，鉴于香港长期以来一直对难民持欢迎态度，香港偏低的避难申请批准率颇具讽刺性。二战后难民曾一度占香港人口的三分之一。
After the Vietnam War, Hong Kong sheltered hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees, allowing many to work and some to settle, despite protests claiming the Vietnamese were a burden on the city. 'I think the population is a bit scarred from the Vietnamese experience, because it created a lot of social chaos,' says Patricia Ho, a lawyer at the firm of Daly & Associates.
越南战争结束后，香港接纳了数十万越南难民，允许很多难民工作，一些难民定居下来，尽管有人抗议说越南难民对香港来说是个负担。帝理律师行(Daly & Associates.)的律师何?芝(Patricia Ho)说，我认为民众对越南难民涌入香港的那段经历仍心有余悸，因为当时制造了很多社会混乱。
Even if it does improve its record and approves more asylum requests, Hong Kong may still face criticism for how it treats both asylum seekers and recognized refugees.
即使香港确实能改善过往记录，批准更多的避难请求，在对待避难申请者和已获批的难民的方式上，香港仍可能面临批评。
Many developed countries allow refugees to hold jobs. Hong Kong technically allows refugees to work. But in practice, it has approved just one application in recent years, lawyers say, forcing thousands of people to live in poverty. Refugees without permission to work risk prison if caught taking a job.
很多发达国家和地区允许难民工作。香港法律上允许难民工作。但律师们说，现实中，香港近年来仅批准过一个难民工作申请，迫使数千难民过着贫苦的生活。未获准工作的难民如果被发现在工作，可能被投入监狱。
Advocates for refugees note that Hong Kong is more welcoming to refugees than some other places in Asia. Singapore has said it can't take in any asylum seekers, given its small size and limited resources.
难民维权人士指出，香港比亚洲其他一些地方更加欢迎难民。新加坡说，由于面积小，资源有限，该国无法接纳任何避难申请者。
Still, lawyers say other developed Asian nations have better-developed systems to support refugees, including South Korea, which lets refugees work. 'Hong Kong can and should do more,' said Cosmo Beatson, co-founder of Vision First, a nonprofit working with refugees.
不过，律师们说，亚洲其他发达国家和地区拥有更先进的难民支持体系，包括韩国，韩国允许难民工作。难民非营利组织Vision First联合创始人彼特森(Cosmo Beatson)说，香港能够也应该做的更多。
Gada Djabo, 57, arrived in Hong Kong in 2011, on a business trip. Days later, conflict broke out in his home country, the Ivory Coast, over a disputed presidential election, and he still is in Hong Kong.
57岁的贾博(Gada Djabo) 2011年出差时来到香港。几天后，他的祖国科特迪瓦因备受争议的总统选举发生了冲突，他目前仍在香港。
When he was back home, Mr. Djabo says, he worked 17 years for the French bank Société Générale GLE.FR +1.40% . He says he lived in an eight-room house with a swimming pool, had three drivers and five cars, including his own personal blue Mercedes. Now he struggles to pay subway fares, living in a room slightly bigger than his bed. Every 10 days, he gets a government-donated chicken and consumes it sparingly, reheating it in a rice cooker to make it last.
贾博说，他在科特迪瓦的时候，曾为法资银行法国兴业银行(Societe Generale)工作了17年。他说，从前他住在一座有八个房间的房子里，家里有泳池，还有三名司机和五辆汽车，包括他自己的蓝色奔驰。而如今，他甚至买不起地铁票，住在一个比床大不了多少的房间里。每隔10天，他会得到政府捐助的鸡肉，他吃得很节省，为了多吃几顿，他把鸡肉放在电饭锅里反复加热。
More than anything, refugees like Mr. Djabo, whose asylum application was approved a year ago and is awaiting resettlement, say they want to work.
像贾博这样的难民说，他们最想要的是工作。贾博的避难申请一年前获得了批准，目前正在等待重新安置。
While Hong Kong provides periodic groceries to refugees and a HK$1,200 rent subsidy, the recipients say it isn't enough to survive in Hong Kong, which has some of the world's most expensive real estate. And the city's unemployment rate is a low 3.4%.
尽管香港向难民定期提供食品，还会提供1,200港元的房租补贴，但难民们说，这些不够他们在香港生存下来。香港的房地产属世界最贵之列。此外，香港的失业率在3.4%的低位。
'Keeping people idle is not in the interest of any society,' says University of Hong Kong law professor Kelley Loper. 'It can create a lot of social unrest and people get desperate. I think other countries have clearly recognized that.'
香港大学(University of Hong Kong)法学教授罗恺丽(Kelley Loper)说，让人们闲着对任何社会都是不利的，这样可能产生很多社会不稳定，人们会变得绝望；我认为其他国家和地区已经清楚地认识到这一点。 |
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