Speech #800180738

South America. Africa and other countries. Now I want to discuss with the Senate the world organization that was created for the care of refugees or displaced persons. Having shown the immense number of people who claim to be displaced throughout the world. let us see what has been done by the IRO. to which America subscribes. and to which it has contributed so bountifully in funds. Having pointed out the scope of the problem of displaced persons. I shall now make certain observations respecting the Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization and its functions. . The Senate will recall that during the closing days of the last session of the Congress. by Public Law 146 the President was authorized to accept membership for the United States in the International Refugee Organization. which would take over the problems of displaced persons. It was expressly provided in the law which authorized the acceptance. however. that the authority was given upon the condition and with the reservation. that no agreement should be concluded on behalf of the United States. and no action should be taken which would have the effect of abrogating or modifying any of the immigration laws of the United States. By that condition the security and the independence of this country in its actions upon this subject have been preserved. Had that reservation not been placed in the law Congress would have surrendered completely the control over immigration in the United States. But the language is there. and it has been our safeguard so that we as the legislative body of this Nation may meet here today and ourselves deal with this subject. Heaven only knows what would have happened if that safeguarding language had not been placed in the resolution accepting membership in IRO. We could have been the dumping ground for countless thousands of people. against which policy we could not have raised a voice or a hand. So today we can deal with this problem as an American problem. and deal with it properly through our own Congress. The International Refugee Organization has not yet come into being because. of the 54 nations which are members of the United Nations. only 14 have accepted up to this date. and the constitution of IRO requires that 15 nations must sign before it becomes effective. There we have an Interesting picture. Of the 54 nations which are members of the United Nations. only 14 up to this date. years after this country subscribed to IRO. have come into the picture and have said that they want to take a part in the resettlement of the refugees of the world. That organization is operating under the name of the Preparatory Commission for International Relief Organization. It is an interim agency. operating under agreement of the governments which have already signed. For all practical purposes it exercises the powers and performs the duties provided for in the constitution of IRO. To date the United States has contributed approximately 79 percent of the total contributions received by the Preparatory Commission for the International Refugee Organization. Our annual contribution is a little more than $73.000.000. I think it is well to invite the attention of the Senate to the fact that in the agreement which we entered into when we joined the organization this country agreed to pay 39 percent. as I recall. of the operational cost and 45 percent of the relief. Today. as a matter of fact. 79 percent of the moneys used by that organization are contributed out of the Treasury of this country. without the authority of the Congress and beyond the agreement which was entered into and approved. I think it proper at this point to observe that it was a sad day for the refugee and for the United States when these settlements or camps. as they are called. were taken away from the jurisdiction of the United States Army and of the British Army in its zofte and.placed under IRO. I saw some of the camps which were still being operated by the t "my in Vienna. From the standpoint of method of operation. cleanliness. and the manner in which they were conducted. there was no comparison between such camps and somenot allof the camps under the jurisdiction of IRO. I think the Senate should know that almost without exceptionI did not find an exception in the camps we visited with the local governing bodiesthe teams. as they are called. of IRO were the old UNRRA employees of past days. The Senate knows what happened under the administration of UNRRA. Of the approximately 1.300.000 displaced persons and refugees who are in Germany. Austria. and Italy. and who are now under the jurisdiction of PCIROthat stands for "Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization"-about 680.000 are outside of camps and about 645.000 are in. camps operated either by PCIRO or other agencies. Only about 24.000 persons in central Europe who are outside of camps are at present being given care and maintenance by PCIRO. It should be borne in mind that these statistics do not include displaced persons in other areas of the world who are eligible for care and maintenance and do not include the Volksdeutsche and other groups of displaced persons who are expressly excluded from PCIRO care and maintenance.