The World : ‘Boat People’ Can Return

Vietnam, in a major change of policy, has said it is ready to accept “boat people” wishing to return home and to accelerate the pace of legal departures, a U.N. official said. Also, the government no longer brands as traitors and criminals those who have applied to leave the country legally, Sergio Viera de Mello, head of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees for Asia, said. He reported in Geneva that Vietnamese officials assured him during a recent trip to Hanoi that every effort will be made to ease the reintegration of returning refugees into their jobs and villages. At least 1 million people have left Vietnam since the 1975 Communist takeover, and there are an estimated 54,000 Vietnamese in Asian refugee camps.