Vietnam Boat People

By Maddy, Rebecca and Meg

In 1975 the Vietnam war ended. Because of the Vietnam war many people in Cambodia and Laos were forced to become refugees

With the war came a new communist government. Many people were not happy with the change and still supported the old government. The new government tortured and abused the people that were still supporting the old Government and many people either fled the country or were sent to re-education camps where they were abused and tortured into supporting the new government.

The government sent over 1 million people to re-education camps. 165,000 people died in these camps.

These reasons as well as extreme poverty are the reasons the migration took place.

The people that left the country were forced onto small, poorly made boats that were packed full of people.

On the open seas, the boat and its people encountered treacherous weather conditions and Thai pirates. 1/3 of the people that were on these boats died due to these harsh weather conditions, illnesses and food shortages.

Many people on the boats lost husbands, wives, children, parents and relatives. Some families were forced to split up due to lack of money and only being able to afford one person to go on a boat.

One of the crowded boats the people had to travel on

When the people arrived at the destination in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong only some of the people were accepted into the countries preferring to accept married couples, hard working people and women over 18. The others were put into refugee camps where 863 people were known to be raped 763 physically attacked and killed and 489 people abducted.

Vietnamese people in Refugee camps.

Refugee camps were set up in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Hong Kong received over 100000 Vietnamese boat people so they set up many refugee camps. Only a few countries accepted the refugees including the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK with the US accepting most at 823000. Over 1 million boat people have been resettled since 1975. By the 1990s the number of refugees fleeing Vietnam had dwindled and most refugee camps were closed.

Vietnamese Boat People

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_people#Vietnamese

•http://www.vietka.com/Vietnamese_Boat_People/vietnamesesuffering.htm

•http://www.boatpeople.org/boat_people_the_journey.htm

•http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=952_0_3_0

•http://www.vietka.com/refugee_camps.htm

•The fall of Saigon - The end of the Vietnam War by Michael V. Uschan •The Vietnam War by Reg Grant

•Vietnam WarOk Eyewitnesses

•World Book, volume 20 2007 edition