Speech #870299546

Mr. President. the Senator from Connecticut is to be complimented on bringing to our attention a poignant memo concerning Yugoslav refugees. issued on behalf of the Catholic Relief Services of the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the International Rescue Committee. Since the Senator from Connecticut has made an excellent exposition of this subject. I want to add just a few comments. As a former vice president of the International Rescue Committee. I. too. have followed with close interest the plight of Yugoslav refugees and I am concerned by the growing use of the term "economic refugee" when referring to Yugoslav refugees. In my judgment. no invidious distinctions shown among refugees from communism should be made. Those of us who have worked closely with refugees know very well that there are many complex reasons why a refugee would flee his native land and I believe it is manifestly unfair to determine that many Yugoslav refugees flee for isolated economic reasons. which are in no way related to the overall suffering of living under a Communist regime. The repression of freedom of religion and other fundamental human rights in Yugoslavia is just as distasteful to endure as it is in other Communist countries. One must also remember that once a man makes the decision to flee to freedom. he automatically becomes an enemy of a Communist state if he is returned involuntarily. Mr. President. the fact that most of the Yugoslav refugees are workers and peasant youth. is. indeed. an indictment against the Yugoslav Communist regime which pretends to be the government of the proletariat and the peasant. Instead of returning these people who have "voted with their feet"--the only real way they can protest under a Communist systemwe should treat Yugoslav refugees in the exact manner we treat other refugees from communism. We should welcome them as a living indictment of the failure of communism. In our own country. we are struggling to eliminate secondclass citizenship and it is my earnest hope that those who administer our refugee programs will eliminate the category of secondclass refugees.