Speech #890312466

AID encourages. through the Voluntary Foreign Aid Service. informal noncontractual relationships in technical cooperation overseas between voluntary agencies and the AID missions. The agencies services are supported from their own resources. Department of State: Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs (ORM) Washington. D.C. The United States has a deep humanitarian concern for refugees throughout the world and since the end of World War II has provided massive amounts of assistance to refugees. Most of United States Government assistance to refugees overseas is administered by or in coordination with the Department of State. Well over a billion dollars of U.S. Government assistance has been provided for refugee programs and current expenditures are at the rate of $115 million a year. Some programs are operated directly by the Department of State working through contracts in cooperation with American and international voluntary agencies. In addition. the United States supports and contributes to the programs of international organizations which assist refugees. Several programs are administered directly by the State Department through its Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs (ORM). The United States Escapee Program (USEP) operates in Europe and the Near East where. through contracts with voluntary agencies. it assists directly in the integration and resettlement of refugees from European Communist countries. USEP assisted over 8.000 refugees in 1965. Through the Far East Refugee Program (FERP). ORM provides assistance to refugees from Communist China in Hong Kong and Macau. FEP projects include educational facilities. medical services. vocational trainIng. reestablishment assistance. and other projects which help the refugees to become selfsustaining. The United States also participates in providing assistance through American voluntary agencies to Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal. Here again. the projects supported are designed to accomplish the permanent resettlement of Tibetans through reestablishment in agricultural centers and industrial projects. and with the provision of vocational training and other educational assistance. medical services. and emergency food and housing. Since December 1. 1965. when a new "Memorandum of Understanding" was negotiated with the Castro Government. the Department of State has been responsible for coordinating the transportation of Cuban refugees to the United States. As of June 30. 1966. some 28.000 Cuban refugees had arrived in Miami to be united with their families. under the new agreement. Through the Department of State. the United States also supports the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) In its vital role of resolving problems throughout the world. The United States is a member of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR and is the principal contributor both in cash and food commodities. The Department of State also provides United States support to the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) of which the U.S. has been a member since its inception in 1951. Through its contribution to ICEM. the United States assisted in the transportation and resettlement of many thousands of refugees and migrants. Half of the approximately 67.000 persons moved by ICEM in 1965 were refugees. the United States contribution for that year was $4.553.000. The total United States contribution for the support of the above programs in 1966 will be over $7.500.000. Over the years. the United States has been the principal contributor to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The United States contributes 70% of the total cost of the care of these refugees which in 1965 amounted to $24.7 million in cash and food. In cooperation with the Agency for International Development (AID). the Department of State has arranged for other major contributions to refugee programs in Asia and Africa. For example. AID is providing about $15 million in Public Law 480 foods to refugees during 1966 and is spending about $28 million in assistance to refugees through regular AID programs. It is estimated that other general AID programs provide peripheral benefits to refugees at a cost of $55 million during 1966. III. Voluntary agencies American Council for Emigres in the Professions.