Mr. President. I wish to comment on the incident involving the forcible return of the Lithuanian refugee who sought asylum aboard the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant. If press reports are correct. the incident obviously raises some serious questions involving our Governments responsibility under the United Nations convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees. and also to our national commitment to the right of asylumso long a part of our countrys tradition and history. From early reports. it seems that in an incredible 10hour period on November 23. our Government compromised our Nations 200year history of supporting the right of refugees. For in that period our Government permitted the captain of the Coast Guard cutter to have Soviet sailors come aboard. drag a defector from his hiding place. manhandle him in the presence of American personnel. and then transport him. in one of the cutters own lifeboats. back to the Soviet vessel. From all appearances the incident is another sad example of the low priority officials of our Government attach to humanitarian questionswhether it be the fate of one Lithuanian seaman desperately reaching out for freedom. or the lives of hundreds of thousands of East Pakistanis crying out for help.
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refugee refugees