Indochinese Refugees: The Law and Politics of First Asylum

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Abstract
By early 1981, almost six years after the communist victories in Indochina, the flow of Indochinese refugees seemed to have become self-perpetuating. The recipient states consequently started to take measures to reduce the flow. While the methods employed have been criticized, the result seems to have been a downward trend in new arrivals. There was also progress with respect to the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) from Vietnam in early 1982. This factor and simultaneous changes in U.S. resettlement processing from first-asylum areas helped to modify what previously had been a tragic anomaly in the refugee program: the mode of departure, rather than reasons for departure, had become a principal criterion for bestowing refugee status, thus turning the process into a human obstacle course where those willing to risk the perilous flight to first-asylum areas were rewarded with refugee status. The new momentum in the ODP and signs of a diminishing flow were certainly welcomed in the first-asylum countries—mainly the ASEAN members of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. However, fears of being left with a residual refugee population still remain and may encourage the ASEAN countries to limit first asylum further and to explore alternative strategies of response.

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