Speech #1010201086

These abuses include brutal treatment of persons. arbitrary detentions. absence of fair trails. denial of privacy. and severe restrictions on. freedom of speech and press. assembly and association. movement. worker rights. as well as the right of citizens to change their Government. Such abuses coupled with economic hardship forced an upsurge of people attempting to flee from Vietnam. Prior influx of Vietnamese refugees to Western nations. and its ensuing strain on economic resources. has resulted in the West reducing Vietnamese resettlement. Approximately 660.000 boat people are known to have escaped from Vietnam since 1975. By spring 1979. nearly 60.000 boat people. often having endured the atrocities of pirates and other dangers of the sea. were arriving monthly In the nations neighboring Vietnam. While awaiting resettlement In Western nations. many of the boat people have remained in the first asylum states bordering Vietnam for extended periods. Consequently. as the refugee population of Southeast Asian first asylum camps has surpassed originally intended occupancy. Vietnamese boat people have exhausted their welcome with asylum governments. These first asylum countries have begun to divert the refugees to other countries or identify them as economic migrants and return them to Vietnam by force. The boat people. however. if forced to return to Vietnam. face stiff penalties imposed by the Government on anyone fleeing to a foreign country. The end result. further tensions between Vietnamese boat people and asylum nations. For more than 12 years. beginning with the fall of Saigon. boat people have sought safety from the oppression of their Communist Government in asylum countries. The living conditions of these first asylum refugee camps are poor and of communal living. Boat people have reportedly lived in these poverty stricken asylum camps for up to 4 years while they await permission to resettle in a Western nation. In an effort to address this problem and to make refugee admissions more equitable and orderly. Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980. Hereafter. the United States defined a refugee as a person outside his or her country. "with a wellfounded fear of persecution on account of race. religion. nationality. membership in a particular social group. or political opinion." In addition. on June 1314. 1989. a conference attended by 60 nations attempted to resolve the problems of Vietnamese seeking asylum in Southeast Asia. In return for continued first asylum for the fleeing Vietnamese. resettlement efforts of the traditional resettlement countries will be accelerated. The United States. in turn. has agreed to admit 18.500 of the longstaying population and up to 50 percent of later arrivals classified as refugees. Clearly. the plight of the Vietnamese boat people is uncertain and complex. however. significant strides have been made. It is important that Congress remember its commitments to these people. and take the necessary steps to honor them.