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REFUGEES FROM INDOCHINA
June 1985
A steady stream of refugees continues to leave Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. But the opportunities for permanent settlement elsewhere are declining. By the end of April 1985, 159,324 Indochinese refugees (36,438 of them Vietnamese boat people) were living in temporary accommodation in the area. Thailand at present has by far the biggest concentration some 87,500 Laotians, 36,400 Cambodians and nearly 6,000 Vietnamese. In addition, some 250,000 Cambodians, not officially classified as refugees, are living in evacuation sites on the Thai side of the Thai-Cambodian border. Hong Kong, with 11,000, Vietnamese refugees carries the heaviest burden, Malaysia has nearly 8,000. A further 10,000 or so Vietnamese are in camps in Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, and Singapore.
The total of nearly 160,000 awaiting resettlement has fallen compared with the December 1979 figure (280,000). But whereas some 25,000 a month were being moved on to permanent homes in the second half of 1979, the average in 1983 and 1984 was only 5,000 (4,050 in April 1985).
International concern about the refugees from Indochina seems to be waning six years after the major exodus of 1979. Attention now focusses on Africa and its problems.
Since the Communists took over in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos in 1975, about 1.6 million people have left these countries, including Vietnamese who went direct to the United States in 1975 and those of Chinese origin who went to China in 1978. About half a million Vietnamese boat people have reached neighbouring countries; thousands more must be assumed to have perished in storms and pirate attacks.
The plight of the Vietnamese refugees was internationally recognised in July 1979 after the exodus of boat-people had swelled to a flood. A UN conference on Indochinese refugees was called in Geneva on Britain's initiative, and attended by delegates from 65 countries, including Vietnam. By then, about 300,000 Vietnamese of Chinese origin had left Vietnam (mainly the South) because of growing hostility and pressure from the Vietnamese authorities. About a quarter of a million went to China; about 60,000 arrived in Hong Kong in the first half of 1979 alone. The main achievement of the Geneva conference was to help the UNHCR to speed up the process of resettling the refugees by enlisting more resettlement offers and more funds. Offers of places increased from 120,000 in May 1979 to 272,000 by the end of 1979,
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This paper has been prepared for general briefing purposes. should not be construed or quoted as an expression of Government policy.