| OCR Text |
Show The Salt Lake Tribune NATION Sunday, January 22, 1995 Forced Repatriation Becoming Commonfor Asian Boat People us hostage now.’” {Canada maid and her unemployed hus- bandtook out his frustrations by beating her. Fishing boats were pushing off weekly for Hong Kong fromsecluded spots up and down the coast around Haiphong. Everyone knew someone who wasgoing to the boomingcapitalist haven 560 miles awayon the southern shore of China. But coming homeis hard Thu staged a six-day hunger strike but that did not stop Hong Kong officials from carrying her ontoa plane on April 7, 1993, and sending her back. She is one of nearly 1,000 Vietnamese forcibly repatriated by the British colony during the past four years. ‘Lam a very unhappy woman,” said Thu, 32, tears streaming reddened eyes while she talked about her hostile family and problems finding work and a place tolive. Thu is among the unlucky remnants of an exodus that began in 1975, when waves cf refugees fled after communist North Viet- nam toppled the U.S.-backed goyernment of South Vietnam. Departures crested againlater in the when JORGEN GAMMELGAARD 30, the first concrete signal that international help for Vietnamese cember 1995 after spending more wastrained and hired bythe Hai- land remain scarce. but the 7,300 With help [| Japan phong Woolen Factoryto work at er about $6 to $18 a month, barely enoughfor food. Her parents reject her as woman with only seven years of schooling, she had no political conflict with Communist Party lems with the local authorities here. My main concern is how to survive.” Thusaid DEPRESSION late 1980s, when unemployment drove thousands to seek better . e them as a tax b) rd Don't wants the Vietna’ yut before contr Hong Kong in 1997. It r heatedly in November whe n the ap Shifting Focus: Exciting Las Vegas Strip GlassAct 533-8844 A Division of the A-] Quality Glass Gr ‘OUp. VWYVvVYvyvvvvvvyv COROCeaL TREATABLE! LINCOAUD)StORSCN | A HEARING | PROBLEM COULD BE A MEDICAL | PROBLEM || Altogether, more than1.6 million peopleleft andworldattentionhas shifted to new refugee crises in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia Governments in the region and the West plan to hold a conference soon to decide what to do with the more than 42,000 Viet- namese who, like Thu, fled Vietnam for personal and economic DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS? waystations to the West want to close their holding camps and put an end to one of the world’s longest-running and most expensive refugee resettlement efforts “I don’t think theinternational communitycan sit and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for years to run a programlike this. The people in the camps are holding us hostage now.” said Jorgen Gammelgaard, director of the European Union’s programfor helping Vietnamese who come home. Cash Talks: e THROUGH FEBRUARY 4 Dark M — Sad,hopeless, worthless feelings — Irritable, tense — Lowenergy, fatigue — Changes in weight andeating habits — Difficulty concentrating or remembering reasons, do not qualify as political refugees and refuse to go home voluntarily Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian nations that once served as NOW APPEARING Rich Little — Slowed down or restless James M. Ferguson, M.D. is conducting a research study ofan investigational medicationfor depression. If you have someof the above symptoms, fou may be suffering from depression, and could benefit from professional medical research studies. Participants will receive physical exams, lab work, and study medication at no charge. For information,call PHARMACOLOGY RESEARCH CORPORATION 261-8930 IN THE COPA ROOM THROUGHFE BA Stefanie Powers Robert Wagner “Love Letters * FOUR NEW RESTAURANT evaluations certified Including the All-You-Can-Eat SEAFOOD SPECTACL LAR Sands HOTEL CASINO Sans NOUSSMUKLead eRoseeatt Tomorrow's Treatment Today Since 1989, offi- cials of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have tried to identify genuinepolitical refugees and get themasylum. At the sametime, they have tried to entice the rest back to Vietnam with economic incentives UNHCR says that most of the 65,000 people who agreed to re- turn are doing at least as well as whenthey left Vietnam and that there have been no reprisals by Vietnamese authorities. Some have used grants and loans to start businesses and now rank among their communities’ most one prosperous members. Most who came back willingly hadnot sold their houses or knew they could movein with relatives. Many werefishers who easily went backtotheir old lives. But manyof the holdouts had sold homes, divorced spouses or one otherwise burned their bridges : beforefleeing Vietnam. Forced repatriation seems in- Calvin Klein creasingly the only solution for them, but it is one that govern- ments and UNHCR shrink from. So far, only Hong Kong has tried it and just on a small scale arerefrest ing Human Rights: Vietnam, timate ear to smell which is making market-oriented economicreforms and working to » improve ties with the West, does not want large numbers coming backbyforce, either. man, re, “If we say we agreeto receive a espect human rights,’ Toilette. 6.7 ¢ said 35.00. oang Van Dinhof the Haiphong ‘ity government A thirdof the voluntaryreturnes and more thanafifth of the joldouts come from his city, a leepy port on the Tonkin Gulf 60 Mpiles east of Hanoi Dinh said Vietnamwill accept patriation onlyif it is donein an Calvin Klein irderly way, with dignity and “the apportof international groups. fa The European Union's pro‘am for luring Vietnamese home pent nearly $50 million on small siness loans, job training and rastructure development for Iegturned boat people and their mMmunities. The program shut down Nov fragrance t CK One Available fr romourcollection: forced returnees, the United States will say Vietnamdoes not ‘Shop Monday-Saturday 10-9 and Sunday12-6 in Salt Lake City at Murray We welcome yourDillard's Credit Card, The American Express’ Card, Diners Club Internat b Free 2 LAS VEGAS Nn But good will is running out w in. can accept (' The Heart of the >) | lives. The West, sympathetic after the decades of war in Vietnam, took most of the Vietnamese refugees will be le Allen Lee Kongpeople an extra cause of frictior Chi Chin. Vietnam expelled most ethnic Chinese, and in the an must leave when the eldest son comes home from the army “We[returnees] have no prob- 1 boat people to Bri taini of identifying with the Vie dis- family she is with now says she ‘ase shows howlimited ects can be. A farm T dom or a better life. But i asylur in various nations work wagesare equivalent to only chanceas people who never left, he said tor Most Hong Kong sident S are themselves refuge from com munist China who came to the British colony for politi { Sweden a knitting machine. Buther piece- loyal to the family. A succession of friends haveput herup, but the have the apo fo home long gone Nowthat she is back, her prob- lems are back, too. same Haiphong residenis still in camps overseas will Camp. The banner is stration that Kong had for authorities. Going to Hong Kong was the only wayshe saw to leave her abusive husband from the European program, she tain most of the job training centers the European Union built or equipped. Jobs, education and Mest, bu Mun’s Pillar Point boat people is winding down. Most important. UNHCR’s program for helping boat people who returnis scheduled to end in Dethan $600 million. Dinh said Haiphong will main- ’ Most their pier proclaiming: “We Strongly Protest the Placement o Vietnamese Boat Pe [Australia European Union communis ted the US backedSc fe LAA DAAAAAADAADADS ing homewas easy for Dinh Thi Thuback in 1988, when the only job she could find was as a house- **T don’t think the international community can sit and spend hundreds of thousandsof dollars for years to run a programlike this. The people in the camps are holding cor 50.00. Yr. wo 4 N uw IATED PRESS HAIPHONG, Vietnam — Leav- 1970s, HONG KONG — The re of Tuen Munwant know how they new neighbors ne Hong Kong suburbanites have draped a banner in front of thy Wilhelm E from Hong Kong Sinks of them where they can Sympathy for Boat The gover People of Vietnarm . |
