Redoubling the Refugees' Woes

For escapees: inhospitable shores, few safe havens

Some of them escape across the 450-mile border between Kampuchea (Cambodia) and Thailand, which is dotted with spikes holding the sun-bleached skulls of would-be refugees who were shot down by Khmer Rouge frontier guards. With considerably greater ease, others manage to evade the purgatory of Pathet Lao rule by crossing the Mekong River, the poorly guarded frontier between Laos and Thailand. From Viet Nam, thousands of refugees --the so-called boat people--have sailed to Thailand or Malaysia in overcrowded junks. An equal number have died in the attempt.

And still they come. Last month 4,752 Vietnamese succeeded in joining the 450,000 refugees who have successfully escaped from Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos since the Communist takeovers in 1975. The most recent escapees have been the Vietnamese and Chinese who were fleeing Hanoi's harsh new crackdown on private property and trade, which has resulted in large-scale unemployment and serious food shortages. On the average, 1,400 Laotians swim or sail across the Mekong every month, while only 60 Cambodians make it across their booby-trapped frontier in a desperate run from the mass executions and ruthless resettlement program that have cost more than a million lives since 1975.

For those who have made the perilous journey out of their Communist homelands there are few safe havens. Harbor police in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysian ports sometimes sharply discourage boatloads of hungry and thirsty Vietnamese, who then set sail again to virtually certain death at sea. Last week the arrest of six Thai policemen pointed to the widespread mistreatment of the 2,000 boat people who have taken refuge in Thailand. The policemen were charged with looting and gang-raping about 30 Vietnamese in a fishing boat outside the coastal town of Nakhon Si Thammarat last month.

Though the United Nations maintains 16 camps for the 101,000 Indochinese refugees in Thailand at a cost of $11.5 million a year--$9.9 million of it provided by the U.S.--many would-be migrants are subject to cruel exploitation the instant they reach Thailand. All refugees arriving in the country, whether by sea or land, are considered "illegal entrants" and are fined up to $75. Those who cannot pay are often jailed, sometimes in open-air cages.

Many of the Vietnamese refugees have been subjected to extortion several times. First, illegal ship brokers in Viet Nam demand 20 to 35 taels of gold ($6,000 to $10,500 on the Saigon market) to put a family of six on a fishing junk with 150 other people. When the ships near the Thai coast, Thai naval patrols sometimes climb aboard and rob the refugees of their remaining money and belongings. At least 1,000 boat people from Viet Nam are currently living in abject squalor on a stretch of beach in Songkhla, near the Malaysian border. These refugees have thus far survived on the 25-c- a day each receives from the U.N. and on food donated by the Vietnamese wife of the Dutch ambassador in Bangkok.

The Thais have a particular hatred for the Vietnamese. After the French defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954, Thailand accepted 50,000 Vietnamese refugees. Many of these Vietnamese have supported a Communist insurgency force, which is still operating in the northeastern part of the country, and have been regarded as a dangerous fifth column directed by Hanoi. The government of Prime Minister Kriangsak Chamanand is determined not to allow a second wave of Vietnamese refugees to become a focal point for future dissent within Thailand.

Escapees from Cambodia and Laos have fared somewhat better in Thailand. Explains a European diplomat in Bangkok: "The Thais will accept the Laotians as ethnic cousins, while the Cambodians are not a group to be greatly feared; after all, the Thais always got their slaves from Cambodia." Still, exploitation is rife in the U.N. camps. In April, 18 Thais were arrested for robbing refugees in a camp at Nong Khai that houses 26,000 Laotians. Camp officials encourage Laotians to find work outside the compounds. "Many factories in this country are looking for cheap labor," explains Nong Khai Governor Chamnarn Potchana. "While Thai workers want vacations and labor unions, refugees just want work."

For many of the Laotians the only work available is strictly for women: prostitution. The brothels and massage parlors in northeastern Thailand are packed with young Laotian refugees. Some are also abducted from the refugee camps to serve in whorehouses.

There are a few signs that refugee camp conditions may improve soon. After months of refusal, Thailand may be ready to respond to U.S. pressure for better care of its migrants. The U.S. has earmarked $210 million over the next five years to help permanently resettle 40,000 to 50,000 refugees in Thailand. Last week the Justice Department announced that the U.S. will accept 25,000 more Indochinese in addition to the 160,000 who have been admitted to the U.S. since 1975. Australia is committed to taking 6,000 refugees from Thailand, and France is scheduled to resettle 10,000. At that rate, U.N. officials note, refugee departures from Thailand to more hospitable shores could reach 40,000 in the next twelve months. But if the totalitarian regimes of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia persist in driving their citizens to seek freedom elsewhere, Thailand's refugee camps are bound to fill up again.

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