Speech #870088351

Chairman. U.S. Committee for Refugees. and representatives from several private agencies including affiliates of the American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service. Refugee problems are spawned in the diverse. contradictory. and multitudinous political difficulties and tensions which rend the international arena. Intolerant nationalism. war. revolution. partition. racial and religious conflict. and the violence of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes have created refugeesdisplaced uprooted persons. victims of the upheavals of their times. Since World War II United Nations publications estimate that some 40 million men. women. and children have become refugees. and. as our hearings indicated. approximately 15 million persons remain in that category. Although in the mind of many the term "refugee" is synonymous with European. as Vernon E. Bergstrom of the Lutheran Immigration Service. Dean Sayre. and others clearly pointed out. "the main thrust of the problem" now lies elsewhere. This was not to deprecate the continuing need in Europe. but rather to call attention to the fact that even larger concentrations of refugees are found in other regions of the world. Desperately in need of various kinds of assistance are 300.000 Algerian refugees in Morocco and Tunisia. nearly 2 million Chinese refugees in Hong Kong and Macao. thousands of Baluba tribesmen and Angolans in the Congo. approximately 1 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. some 54.000 Tibetans in India and Nepal. an increasing number of Cubans in the United States and several areas of Central and South America. and various other groups scattered throughout the world. The subcommittees hearings brought into sharp focus the truly worldwide scope of refugee problems. and demonstrated the need for what Richard Salzman. representing the International Rescue Committee. termed a "national education" to foment a greater public awareness of world refugee needs. When properly informed of these needs. stated Mr. Bergstrom. speaking for the Lutherans: The response on the part of the American public will be sufficient to meet this challenge. In addition to the need for a greater public awareness and sustained enthusiasm in the United States. Mrs. Lord suggested the need for other countries. particularly new countries. to become better acquainted with refugee problems. She stressed the importance of pointing out the causes of refugee problems. I thinkShe statedthere is more educating we can do in these countries as to what happens when a country like China and Russia aggresses and displaces so many of these people. Aside from the expressed need for greater public awareness and understanding of world refugee needs. those who testified made a number of recommendations to cope with refugee problems. All of the witnesses recommended more vigorous and expanded governmental programs for the aid of world refugees. In this. the active concern of President Kennedy and his administration was clearly outlined by Messrs. Jones. Brown. Mitchell. and Hennessy. An almost universal recommendation of those who testified concerned the need for liberalized immigration legislation to allow a greater number of refugees to enter this country. In this regard. it was also recommended that the continuing nature of refugee problems should be reflected in our basic immigration law rather than in piecemeal legislation. Even though. as Mr. Bergstrom stated. the major thrust will be centered on assisting people to reestablish themselves where they are rather than any largescale resettlement of peoples to the United States. we should provide in our basic immigration law a permanent provision for the admittance of prudent numbers of refugees to our shore. Mr. James MacCracken. of Church World Service. put it this way: The success and the endless series of special enactment speak eloquently of the need for permanent provision for refugee admission to our shores. We believe that such permanent provision for refugees to immigrate. albeit in token numbers. would have a major psychological impact throughout the free world providing that no barriers were erected because of accident of race or geographic location. It was suggested by the Right Reverend Monsignor John F. McCarthy of the Catholic Relief Services and others. that special provisions in any refugee legislation be given to orphans. tubercular cases and. especially. the reunion of families. A second set of recommendations involved improvements in the current apparatus of assistance to refugees and the mandates under which this apparatus operates. In the international sphere Dean Sayre suggested that a review of refugee problems might well involve a consideration as to whether there ought to be three separate international organizations in the worldUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. the InterGovernmental Committee for European Migrationor whether there is not the possibility of coordinating them in an integrated way which might serve the purpose of clarifying the American understanding of some of these complex organizations and possibly of promoting efficiency in the service of refugees throughout the world. Mrs. Lord. for one. indicated a reservation in this regard. but agreed with Dean Sayre. as did other witnesses. that the mandates under which international refugee organizations operated should be continually reviewed and altered in the light of changing conditions. Dr. Evans. however. seemingly questioned the necessity of altering the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner. because in many areas refugees have the same legal protection as the local people and the good offices of the High Commissioner are available under the present resolutions of the United Nations. With respect to the American apparatus of assistance. Dean Sayre recommended that the subcommittee review the entire situation. He stated that there is insufficient coordination between agencies of our Government concerned in the refugee problem. and. therefore. a constant confusion in the mind of the public as to what they can back. what is being done. what is happening. He recommended that we should devote a good deal of attention to streamlining our governmental procedures and administration of refugee affairs. giving to them the status of a higher level of responsibility. with the consequence. as we believe. improvement and strengthening of the relation between the Federal Government and the voluntary agencies. In conjunction with the latter part of the statement. Dean Sayre suggested that the subcommittee reappraise the relationship of the voluntary agencies to the Federal Government. not in a critical fashion. but rather with a view of seeing if there cannot be any extension and improvement of these relationships. Mindful of the need for such a reappraisal. the subcommittee requested that the voluntary agencies submit a statement of any means whereby a more effective program could be worked out in connection with this cooperative effort between governmental and private agencies. A third set of recommendations to the subcommittee concerned the integration of refugees in the country of resettlement. Mr. MacCracken expressed the belief that greater attention and concern must be directed toward the integration of the homeless in their new country. whether Canada.