Speech #960090913

Mr. Speaker. I have just returned from the United Nations Conference on Refugees held July 20 and 21 in Geneva. Switzerland. Our delegation. made up of nine Members of Congress. State Department officials. and civic leaders. was led by Vice President WALTER F. MONDALE. The Vice President in his statement to the Conference. eloquently set forth the gravity of the Indochinese refugee problem. and stated the U.S. intention of resettling 14.000 refugees per month during the next year. representing a doubling of our current rate of resettlement. I applaud the Vice Presidents statement. particularly his comparison of the present situation with that faced by the conferees at Evian 41 years ago. That conference failed to provide for the resettlement of Jews. then threatened by Hitler. and this failure was followed by the holocaust. I am most pleased to report that the United Nations Conference did not end in failure. but rather had the positive result of accumulating new pledgesmade since June 1of resettlement for 135.000 refugees and $190 million more for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. This Conference was attended by representatives of 65 nationsas contrasted with 34 nations which were represented at an earlier similar conference in December. From my talks with representatives of several nations. I am encouraged that the world community is becoming aware that the current refugee problem is one which must be dealt with by many nations. and not only by the United States. France. Canada. and Australiathe countries which have accepted over 90 percent of refugees resettled to date. I also spoke with the delegate from Vietnam. Phan Hein. and emphasized the need for normalizing the flow of people out of Vietnam. and the immediate critical need for food deliveries to refugees in Cambodia. The Vice President. in his statement and later at his press conference. rejected the notion that the present refugees are the direct result of the war in Vietnam. He accurately pointed out that the refugees now leaving are doing so to escape from severe racial and religious discrimination. and not as a result of U.S. actions which ended over 4 years ago. He repeated the thought. heard here on the floor only last week. that the root cause of the present refugee problem is the direct result of action by the Government of Vietnam against some of its citizens. Many other speakers noted this fact as well. and called on the Vietnamese to impose a moratorium on this forced expulsion of people from that country. The Secretary General. Kurt Waldheim. in his closing statement. announced that the Vietnam Government would make efforts to stop "illegal departures." We must wait to see what effect this action has on the arrival rate of new refugees in first asylum countries. Mr. Speaker. we did not solve the refugee problem in Geneva. However. I believe that we are in the midst of a process whereby the world community. acting through the United Nations. will join together to provide resettlement for these brave people.*