The international community, led by UNHCR, devised a well-intentioned screening system. Unfortunately, as Freeman and Nguyen demonstrate, it failed unaccompanied children. The hardships these children endured are disturbing, but more disturbing is the story of how the governments and agencies that set out to care for them eventually became the children's tormenters. When Vietnam, after years of refusing to readmit illegal emigrants, reversed its policy, the international community began doing everything it could to force them back to Vietnam. Cutting rations, closing schools, separating children from older relations and other caregivers, relocating them in order to destroy any sense of stability--the authorities employed coercion and effective abuse with distressing ease, all in the name of the "best interests" of the children. While some children eventually managed to construct a decent life in Vietnam or elsewhere, including the United States, all have been scarred by their refugee experience and most are still struggling with the legacy. Freeman and Nguyen's presentation and analysis of this sobering chapter in recent history is a cautionary tale and a call to action. James M.
Freeman is professor emeritus of anthropology at San Jose State University. He collaborated with Nguyen Dinh Huu on Hearts of Sorrow: Vietnamese American Lives. Nguyen Dinh Huu is a social worker in San Jose and a former South Vietnamese lieutenant colonel.
Share This Book: