Conclusions

Abstract

This examination of the transit experience of Vietnamese refugees has focused upon the period spent in the first asylum camps of Southeast Asia. It was stimulated largely by the remarks of reception workers in Britain who observed the debilitating effects of a camp experience on the Vietnamese they resettled. This is mainly due to the disparity that exists between how the Vietnamese see themselves as refugees and how they are defined by the authorities who administer and process them for resettlement. Some of the official categories that have been described are ‘accepted’, ‘rejected’, ‘economic migrant’, ‘mentally ill’, ‘skilled’ and ‘converted’.