III  International Responses to the Boat People Tragedy

Facing death on a small craft shaken by the rough sea
after enduring several brutal pirates’ attacks,
these boat people were desperately praying for help.
(Photo: B. McDougall)

Help often never arrived or came terribly late.(Left: UNHCR’s K. Gaugler 1978)
Many unfortunate boat people - like Ms. Lý Thị Ngọc Du from
a wealthy Vietnamese family in Saigon - died without any trace at sea.
(Right: Lý Khánh Vân)

Sometimes help arrived – in this case, via an Italian ship
UNHCR: A. Ranzoni

Among those rescued at sea were young children
and women. (Photos: B. McDougall)

Those boat people, who reached safety, would be taken
to refugee shelters such as  Galang Processing Center in Indonesia
(above: photo by UNHCR’s R. Burrows 1984) 
or Pulau Bidong Camp in Malaysia  (below: photoby UNHCR’s N. van Praag 1983).

Songkhla Refugee Camp, Thailand: In 1977, some boat people
had to remain on their crafts due to shortage of shelter. (Photo: UNHCR’s D. Janmieson)

Left: Refugee ID in Thailand.
Right: ‘Land of Others,’ a publication by South Vietnamese
refugees in Hong Kong. (Courtesy: Lê Quang Phong)