INDEX
PA
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PA
36
REFUGEES FROM INDOCHINA:
THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The resettlement of the growing numbers of Vietnamese refugees calls for wide international cooperation.
576
April 1979
Since the collapse of the non-Communist regimes in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1975, over half a million refugees have left the area. The task of resettling them has devolved on disproportionately few countries and has been aggravated by the appearance, mainly off Hong Kong, of ocean-going vessels loaded with refugees from Vietnam. Host countries in South- East Asia and elsewhere are now pressing for a more co-ordinated and equitable approach to the problem and seeking more cooperation from Vietnam herself.
In
Some 195,000 people, mostly Laotian, have arrived overland in Thailand since 1975. The numbers seeking refuge from Vietnam have gradually risen. 1977 an average of 1,500 a month left by small boats. By October 1978 the figure had risen to over 12,000 a month; in November it exceeded 21,000. Since then large numbers have left by ocean-going ships. Three have arrived in Hong Kong harbour with a total of more than 9,000 refugees. A further 2,300 were on the Tung An which arrived off Manila Bay in the Philippines at the end of November. According to Chinese sources, more than 200,000 - mainly ethnic Chinese from North Vietnam have gone to China. A number of the countries of first asylum now say that they have reached saturation point. Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong have respectively 150,000, 58,000 and 17,000 in transit camps.
Of the territories bordering on the South China Sea, Hong Kong has the least space available. The population of 600,000 in 1945 has increased seven-fold since, placing a heavy demand on limited resources. Yet since 1975 the Hong Kong Government has arranged for 4,800 former residents of Vietnam to join close relations in Hong Kong and to settle there. The Hong Kong Government has consistently followed the principle of international law that people rescued at sea by ocean-going vessels should be put ashore at the first port of call. In response to recent developments, however, it has amended its legislation so as to discourage large ships from entering the harbour with refugees aboard when Hong Kong is not the first port of call or when the vessels concerned seem to be involved in an organised traffic in refugees.
This paper has been prepared for general briefing purposes. It is not and should not be construed or quoted as an expression of Government policy.