Speech #960199412

Mr. President. on February 7 my colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee reported out unanimously Senate Concurrent Resolution 72. which was introduced by Senator LEVIN and myself. Our resolution calls upon the President to request the United Nations to establish an international presence. under United Nations auspices. in the refugee camps on the border between Thailand and Kampuchea. formerly known as Cambodia. We decided to introduce this resolution after visiting the Khao I Dang refugee camp in Thailand. This refugee camp. by the way. had been started just 6 weeks before Senator LEVIN and I arrived to visit. There was already a population of 110.000. It was amazing to us how much order had been established in so short a time and how much selfgovernment and selfrule. Although the plight of the Cambodians cannot be underestimated. I was encouraged by the wonderful spirit shown by the Khmer people in the camps I visited. and their improved physical condition. Humanitarian organizationsthe United Nations High Commission on Refugees. Food for the Hungry. CARE. the International Rescue Committee. the Red Cross and many otherswhich are supplying food and medical care. nurses. physicians and many volunteers. have done a remarkable job. It was a most pleasant surprise to discover that within a few weeks of being fed regularly. the children are jumping up and down. playing on stilts. flying kites. and racing around as lively. healthy children do. and just a few weeks earlier. they were the picture of misery and emaciation. I was also impressed with the determination of the Khmer people to preserve their own culture even though under both the Pol Pot and Heng Samrin regimes there has been a great effort to wipe out the traditional Khmer culture. The relocation of these refugees to many different host countries will further endanger the safekeeping of this culture and I find this extremely disturbing. This is a problem that must be addressed soon. The Khmer culture is rich.