Notes for BRC Asia Committee- 19 March 1935
Why do people leave Vietnam?
Push Factor:
Poverty: "We lack everything!, especially
in comparison with relative wealth before.
Authoritarian flavour of Northern-style administration
acentuated by bleakness of poverty.
Sense of alienation of an ill-fated elite raised
for a society that no longer exists.
Feeling of hopelessness that things will ever improve.
Sense of being closed off and abandoned by the
rest of the world.
Feeling of being forced into Soviet camp despite
cultural distaste for Soviet model..
Pull Factor:
Refugees seem to be assured of resettlement" would appear to solve all of the above.
which
So many family members and friends have gone before.
To discourage people from leaving Vietnam as refugees or emigrants, it is recommended:
1. The international community must be convinced to
provide substantial aid
-
-
to improve living conditions inside Vietnam
to open Vietnam again to the outside world
to provide some sense of hope
to ease authoritarianism which seems to be
connected with war-time mentality, resulting from international hostility over last 30 years
2. The Vietnamese people must be made aware that the
answer to their problems does not lie in emigration.
R. Newton
uxfam
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