ABSTRACT

Following the Chileans, a group of refugees whose culture and background was again very different entered Britain. While instability in Latin America continued to bring refugees to the UK in the late 1970s, their significance was overshadowed by a crisis in south-east Asia which led to a new exodus. A United States Department of State report noted that between 1975 and 1990 1,645,867 south-east Asian refugees had resettled outside the region.1 Many were from Indo-China, where political and economic upheaval, particularly between the late 1970s and early 1980s, caused mass flight. The exodus included nationals of Laos and Cambodia but by far the greatest proportion of the refugees from the region entering Britain were Vietnamese nationals who propelled international relief efforts as they moved in large numbers into Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.2 In denoting the refugees as 'Vietnamese' it is recognised that this is partly a misnomer since a large proportion of those escaping Vietnam were of Chinese origin. A small contingent of Laotians and Cambodians also reached Britain. The resettlement of the Vietnamese has received particular attention from academics and service providers as this government programme was of a nature and scope unique in the post-war period, dealing with a group of people whose everyday life was far removed from that of much of the British population.