PEOPLE

formulate any opinion beyond 'we are so happy to bc here'. Sweden
has a good record with immigrants, who enjoy most of the righm
Swedcs have, including, after three years, voting rights in lwal elmtions.
The first intimation that Sweden would take in boat people came
from the king, Carl XVI Gustaf, when he pdd a twday visit to
Geneva, on 5 Dccember 1978. He told a press conference that the
Swedish prliamcnt was considering the refugte problem and might
agree to take some 2000 refugees - but he hastened to add tbt he
had no authority to make a decision himself. By the beginning of
1979 there was still no decision by the parliament. But by now
Sweden was under mounting intemational pressure to take her quota
of bat peoplc. Foreign Minister Hans Blix admitted the Vietnam=
refugee situation was difficult and wid every nation must contribute
in its own way to a solution.
There wu speculation that Sweden's delay was caud by her
special relationship with Viemm. During the Vietnam war Sweden
was one of the few western netions that recognized Hanoi and broke
off diplomatic relations with Saigon. Then, whtn the war endad,
Vietnam became one of the largest recipients of Swedish foreign aid.
Aid in 1978-79 stood at 380 million kronor ($88.3 million) and in
1979-80 it will rise to 400 million kronor ($93 million). By 12 January
1979, international pressure and the worsening situation in
South-East Asia proved too much, In a rpecial exm wssion of the
&net, just before kime Minister Ola Ullsten was due to leave for
a two-week visit to the United Seates, the government agreed to
accept 250 boat people. Immigration Minister Eva Winther admitted
that this was largely a token gesture, &signed to encourage 0thcountries
to ampt their humanitarian responsibilities for the refugee
problem in South-East Asia.
On 21 June Sweden announced it was doubling its refugee intake
for 1979, as a direct result of the worsening situation in South-East
Asia. The refugee quota was increased to 2500, with an estimated
1250 rcfugecs from Vietnam. It was also ~nnounced that Sweden
would give 15 million kronor ($3.4 million) to the United Nations
campaign to aid refuges in South-East Asia, Blix emphasized that
Swedish aid to Vietnam would continue. The aid was for long-term
proiects like hospitnls and a lumber mill and should not be used to
influence the short-term decisions of the Vietnamese government,
However, with repons that Viemam was openly encouraging ethnic
Chinese to leave tht country, criticism of the aid progmm
mounted. In the parliament the diwontcnr was voiced by Bertil
FiskesjB, of the Centre Party, who said all new aid to Viemam should
be stopped. 'It is completely fanustic that, whtn a dgirne is epsting
out a large pm of its population to possible death and an uncermin
fate, Swcden should continue to give large sums in aid to the country
in question,' he said. Meanwhile Prime Minister Ullsten revealed
that he had made repeated appeals to Vietnam's premier, Phm Van
Dong, to rake steps to else the situation. Opposition leader Olof
l'alme, who in 1968 marched alongside Hanoi's ambassador in a
Stockholm suet demonstration against Ameriean involvement in
Vietnam, rcvcaled that he too had made appeals to Pham Van Dong.
Of the other Sandinavian counwits, Norway has agreed to We
3000 boat people h t by late 1979 only 200 had arrived. They were
being housed in apartmmts in three main ccnms: Oslo, the capital,
Bcrgm mnd Hamar. There they arc given fm language tuition, full
sucial help and assisrance in obtaining work. Finland has taken a
hundred boat people. They have been accommodartd in apments
in Korso, near Helsinlu, and there they also get all social benefits,
free language tuition and help in gcning a job. Finland took refugees
regardlea of their professional status and qualifications. When the
first refugees arrived they were a bit alarmed to learn that Russia
was so close, and even more surprised to learn that there wcrecommunists
in Finland.
iC'ezu Zea knd
Far from the world's trouble sputs, New Zealand has ncver had to
face the problem of refugees arriving empty-handed on its shores.
Although New Zealandcrs have often showed a high degree of compussion,
relatively few refugees have sought o haven there. Since
1944, when a first group of 840 Poles arrived in New Zealand, fewer
than 10 OM rcfugets have been taken in by a population that now
nurnkrs 3,1, million. Thc largest group was 4500 European refugees
after the semnd world war, followed by 11OO Hung~rians after the
abortive 1956 uprising. However, there has been a surge of public