Instead of indicating his own concern and asking for an investigation. Admiral Bender offered this incredible explanation: Under the circumstances the commander of the First Coast Guard District felt that it was reasonable and proper that we not permit our ship to be used as a means of defection and that the man should be returned. The officials responsible for this decision did more than place the United States in violation of the Convention on the Protection of Refugees. By inviting the Soviet vessel to send its seamen aboard to apprehend the defector. they sanctioned a flagrant violation on international law. and this violation was compounded when the officers of the vessel stood by supinely while the Soviet crewmen mercilessly beat the defector. on an American vessel and inside American territorial waters. Nothing like this has happened since the tragic days after World War II when. in our ignorance. we forcibly returned some millions of Soviet citizens to Soviet custody. despite their protests and pleas for mercy. and despite the many hundreds who committed suicide rather than accept return. The United States does respect the right of asylum. and this must be made unmistakably clear to the entire world. To erase the disgrace that this incident has inflicted on the American name. it is my hope that. after all the facts have been established. the sternest treatment will be meted out to the authorities responsible for this unauthorized. illegal. and unspeakably inhuman decision. For the purpose of establishing the American position on the protection of refugees in unmistakable terms. I submit for appropriate reference a resolution deploring the handling of this incident. endorsing the Presidents decision to order a full investigation. and reaffirming our commitment to the right of political asylum and to the protection of refugees.
Keywords matched
Refugees refugees