Swanstrom. executive director of Catholic Relief Services in the United States. In 1957. during the International Migration Congress. in Assisi. Italy. he urged that delegates sponsor an "International Migration Year. to help focus attention on the plight of refugees and the inhabitants of heavily populated areas." Soon afterwards a group of British parliamentarians brought the matter to the attention of the United Nations. On June 5. 1958. the General Assembly put the resolution to a vote. and 59 member nationswith only the Communist bloc opposingpassed it and designated 1960 as World Refugee Year. For his splendid contribution In originating the idea of World Refugee Year. Monsignor Swanstrom last year received the Annual Peace Award of the Catholic Association of International Peace. The attention that World Refugee Year thus dramatically focuses upon the plight of victims of misfortune and tyranny throughout the world must inspire in our own hearts a renewed sense of the obligation that the refugee problem poses for the United States. The doors of this great Nation must be opened wider. through realistic changes in our immigration laws. to enable us to provide new hope and new opportunity to even greater numbers of those whose sad predicament stands as a pressing challenge to the hearts and consciences of a free society.
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Refugee refugee immigration refugees