boat people
Noun
Meaning
(historical) refugees fleeing by sea, particularly those fleeing from South Vietnam during the 1970s and '80s.
An ethnic group that principally lives on fishing and houseboats, particularly the Tanka or Dan people of East Asia.
plural of boat person
Source: en.wiktionary.orgRelated terms
Examples
An unpleasant example of the use of detention arises out of Australia’s policy of turning back boat people from Indonesia and other countries and holding asylum seekers reaching Australia in “processing centres” on two Pacific islands, Nauru and Manus.
Funny how there always seems to be plenty of accomodation for boat people but not our own homeless people.
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab militants today condemned Myanmar’s “savage Buddhists” and urged Southeast Asia’s Muslims to come to the aid of Rohingya Muslim boat people.
The Macau native people were Tanka boat people.
A significant proportion of the surviving South Vietnamese veterans left Vietnam for Western countries, either as boat people or through the Humanitarian Operation (HO).
The Australian Government argued that as Australia was not the country of first asylum for these " boat people ", Australia did not have a responsibility to accept them.