"Refugees," Proof of Article for Britannica Book of the Year

This proof is intended as a guide in preparing the article for the next Britannica Book of the Year. The precipitate flight of throngs of Chinese refu- Refugees. gees from mainland China into Hong Kong in May 1962 and the repatriation of more than 200,000 Algerian refugees from Morocco and Tunisia highlighted developments in the activities of refugees during the year. The desperate efforts of East German refugees to escape to West Germany over, under and through the Berlin wall continued to dramatize the constant urge to escape to freedom. The momentum of the escape of Cuban refugees to Miami at the rate of 1,600-1,800 a week was main- tained until the Cuban crisis in October shut off all movement. In December, however, the release by Fidel Castro of the pris- oners captured in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, together with almost 1,000 of their close relatives, further swelled the already large Cuban colony in the Miami area. Without any prior warning, more than 100,000 Chinese refugees suddenly overwhelmed border controls in Hong Kong in May 1962 and confronted the crown colony with an emergency situ- ation. Already beset by overcrowding and by limited water and housing facilities, the authorities were obliged to round up the refugees and return them to the mainland. Many, however, escaped police detection, increasing appreciably in 1962 the nor- mal annual flow of about 100,000 Chinese refugees into Hong Kong. The refugee population in Hong Kong, difficult to dis- tinguish from the resident Chinese population of the colony, was now estimated at approximately 1,500,000. Emigration of refu- gees to other countries did not prove feasible and redoubled ef- forts were under way to raise the level of the colony's economic activity through increased export trade and to expand the facili- ties of public social and welfare institutions. In Aug. 1962, for unknown reasons, the number of White Rus- sian refugees admitted to Hong Kong from the China mainland suddenly increased from an average of 75 a month to 300 a month. These refugees, who had already established reputations for industry and capacity for ready adjustment, were welcomed in Brazil and Australia and were assisted by the office of the UN high commissioner for refugees and the Intergovernmental Com- mittee for European Migration to reach these countries without undue delay. The cessation of military action in Algeria provided an op- portunity for the 200,000-250,000 Algerian refugees in Morocco and Tunisia to return to their homeland. These refugees had been under the care of the Tunisian and Moroccan governments, assisted by the UN high commissioner for refugees and the League of Red Cross Societies. The refugees who returned to