Vietnamese boat people

This article is about only those who fled Vietnam by sea. For the broader group of refugees from the mass exodus between 1975 and 1995, see Indochina refugee crisis. For other uses, see Boat people (disambiguation).
Vietnamese boat people awaiting rescue (left) and boats of refugees approaching USS Durham (right).

Vietnamese boat people (Vietnamese: Thuyền nhân Việt Nam) were refugees who fled Vietnam by sea following the 1975 fall of Saigon, which marked the end of the Vietnam War. This migration and humanitarian crisis peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s before continuing into the 1990s. Between 1975 and 1995, almost 800,000 boat people arrived safely in other countries, while many others died at sea due to piracy, overcrowding, and storms. Political repression and re-education camps by the communist Vietnamese government, economic hardship, and conflicts such as the Third Indochina War, contributed to the wider Indochina refugee crisis.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that between 200,000 and 250,000 boat people died at sea. The boat people's first destinations were Hong Kong and the Southeast Asian locations of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Tensions between Vietnam and China in 1978 and 1979 contributed to the departure of large numbers of ethnic Hoa people from Vietnam, many of whom fled by boat. Anti-Chinese sentiment and regional conflict further accelerated this exodus.

Southeast Asian countries grew increasingly unwilling to accept additional arrivals. Following negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit departures. Southeast Asian countries agreed to grant temporary asylum, while more developed countries assumed most resettlement responsibilities and costs. Consequently, from refugee camps in Southeast Asia, the great majority of boat people were resettled in more developed countries. Significant numbers resettled in the United States, Canada, Italy, Australia, France, West Germany, and the United Kingdom. Several tens of thousands were repatriated to Vietnam. The UNHCR coordinated initiatives such as the Orderly Departure Program, the Philippine Refugee Processing Center, and the Comprehensive Plan of Action to facilitate resettlement.

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