If you are sailing in the Med and come across a sinking boat or raft about to sink do you just shrug your shoulders and say; “not my problem, they should have stayed home”
BTW; the Refugee Convention states that everybody that apply for for asylum has a right to a hearing. It is not up to individual mariners (or forum heroes) to decide if the deserve asylum or not.
During the exodus from Vietnam in the late 1970s the European countries (as well as the US and Australia) condemned countries in S.E.Asia that closed their borders to refugees, even though they were NOT signatories to the convention.
PS> ALL European countries (+ the US and Australia) have signed up to that convention, as has most other nations now.
As it happens I’ve had to make my mind up about that, and no, that is not a fair representation of my sentiment. Why do you ask?
Also, was that supposed to be some kind of retort? I was musing about how to keep migrants from drowning in the Med, whereas you seem to be talking about something entirely different. I postulate that the most effective policy would be to persuade them not to embark in the first place, a notion that stands without meaningful opposition that I’m aware of.
The exodus from Vietnam was different in that a lot of the people genuinely feared for their lives and yes I’m aware that amongst them there were some real gangsters. But most here anyway settled down to law abiding and productive citizens.
I remember when I first started working in Vung Tau that there were very few if any young South Vietnamese males and all the jobs were held by North Vietnamese.
I never thought I would be grateful for the Tasman Sea and it’s less than benign nature.
Some of the people that came out of Vietnam in the first few years after the war was finally over genuinely feared for their life because of their participation in the civil war on the loosing side.
By the late 1970s it was mostly people looking for a better life and unwilling to put in the hard work of building up their country after 40 years of war and foreign occupation- Many of them returned when things got easier and they could reap the fruit of the sufferings and hard work of those who stayed.
We had a boat coming alongside that had few people onboard and a spare engine strapped down on the deck They had not been robbed by pirates because they were well armed and was not interested in being picked up to be sent to a refugee camp in Indonesia.
They were requesting fuel, water, food. charts and advise on the best route to Darwin, Australia. How much gold they carried is anybody’s guess.
These were ethnic Chinese from Cholon , the Chinatown in Saigon.
If they made it to Darwin they would be welcomed with open arms.
They would likely be able to buy their way to a new life anywhere they wanted.
Sound like you are stereotyping.
That didn’t apply to the majority of ethnic Chinese that run away from Vietnam. Many of them had made large fortunes during the American War that they did not like to share with their fellow Vietnamese.
The group I mentioned could afford to fly rather than risk a long trip in a small boat, but that would require an exit permit, which would not have been granted, since they had been collaborating with the regime and the Americans during the war. (Somebody’s “Patriots” are other people’s “Traitors”)
Besides they could not have carried a lot of gold with them on a regular flight.
Once they were out of Vietnam they would risk being stuck in a refugee camp for months, unless they could bribe the necessary officials to allow them to go on their merry way. (With their gold hord)
I-m not sure everybody would agree with you that the Chinese immigrants do not commit crimes. The Chinese Secret Societies, or Triads, ware quite powerful in Singapore and Hong Kong in the early days of British colonial government and until the late 1970s/early 1980s.
They did (do still??) exist in the Chinatowns of large US, British and Australia cities as well.
Somebody said earlier that when visiting Morocco everything was so nice and save. For one thing the Moroccan police is a different story from the softies which are the Dutch police. In Morocco you are even tortured, kicked around for small misdemeanors. Here it is a different regime and they exploit that as is shown by this graph. Here they have a total lack of respect for the police for obvious reasons. A couple of hours after their arrest they are already released again… We have an expression for that: revolving door criminals. In and immediately out again etc.
The number of suspects of Moroccan origin is per 1000 inhabitants 5.3 higher than those of the Dutch origin. Drug wars are fought out with heavy weapons like Kalashnikovs in the streets of Amsterdam. Even lawyers are killed in the process and are getting police protection these days. It is best described as a plague.
