The government should limit the movement of non-refoulement claimants around Hong Kong by putting them in camps, or send them outside the city while their status is assessed, a lawmaker said on Thursday.

Hong Kong does not grant asylum and only offers non-refoulement, which ensures that those seeking refuge will not be returned to a country where they would be at risk of torture or persecution.

Legislator Hoey Simon Lee – whose office published a report on the city's claimants – said there has been a surge in refugees seeking to stay in Hong Kong in recent years. Most of them do not come from active war zones or disaster-stricken areas, but poorer countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan, he said.

Lee said a large proportion file judicial reviews if their claims are denied, and some are suspected of abusing legal procedures to extend their stay in the SAR and work illegally.

The legislator said non-refoulement claimants should be made to live in semi-open camps where they would only be allowed out under certain conditions.

"This would be better than the current situation, where they're scattered around Hong Kong," Lee said.

"It's difficult to stop them from working illegally, it's also difficult to prevent them from getting in touch with syndicates. Even if we have NGOs in Hong Kong that could help them, there isn't any access point."

Lee also suggested that the SAR should strike deals with other places so non-refoulement claimants can be removed from Hong Kong while they are waiting for their applications to be processed.

New rules introduced in December last year allow the authorities to remove unsuccessful claimants from the SAR even if they are waiting to challenge the result of their applications in court.

Chief Executive John Lee has set a target of expelling at least 1,200 unsubstantiated claimants each year.