The Indochinese Refugee Dilemma

Sutter opens this study by comparing the American responses to the 1956 exodus from Hungary and to the post-1975 flight from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The Indochinese refugee issue is viewed from the perspectives of several countries that provided temporary asylum (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong) and that of the U.S. as a major donor and resettlement country. While examining related humanitarian concerns, Sutter gives special attention to the performance of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the leading coordinating agency mandated to protect and assist refugees. The light here shed on the complexity of the issue worldwide (some 14 million refugees are currently in need of assistance) leaves the impression that escaping persecution is less difficult than finding permanent asylum. Sutter is an assistant professor of education at the University of Virginia. (Feb.)