Moreover. it concerns not just a modest emergency but one of dire proportions. The gentleman from Indiana has spoken eloquently. as have others. of the humanitarian problem. For example. there are over 1 million refugees in Somalia. threequarters of them in camps. and 90 percent of them are women and children. In Pakistan. there are now over 1 million refugees from Afghanistan. and the list goes on. We are faced with the question of whether these desperate human beings will have sufficient food. shelter. and medicine and this amendment would address that very dire situation. Humanitarian concerns. of course. have always been a fundamental reason for providing foreign assistance. including our fundings of the Public Law 480 program. For those of us who want another reason I would like to suggest. as the gentleman from Illinois has just done. that we have an even broader interest in this amendment than our humanitarian concerns. We have an interest in maintaining the stability of the countries in which these refugees are growing in number. For example. let us consider the case of Pakistan. Pakistan is a country which is strategically important to the United States. It is on the border of Afghanistan. a country savagely invaded by the Soviet Union. and of course that is why there are over 1 million refugees in Pakistan today. It is a country of 80 million people with an excess of 1 million refugees. To put this in perspective. I think it might be useful to think about the reaction of the American people to the recent events involving Cuban refugees. We are a country of 220 million people. We have in recent days absorbed about 100.000 Cuban refugees. and I think it is fair to say that many of our constituents. whether we are from Florida. New York. or California. have responded with great concern to the impact those refugees may have in our Nation. These refugees do not really represent a destabilizing influence in our country. a country which is perhaps the most stable in the world. a strong country of 220 million people. But let us put ourselves in the position of Pakistan. a country of 80 million people. which has within a short period of time absorbed over 1 million refugees- or in the position of Somalia. another country with which we have good relations. a country of about 3 million people which has also absorbed over 1 million refugees. What kind of destabilizing influence might those refugees represent in those countries? I think it is fairly easy to understand. given our experience with only 100.000 Cuban refugees. that those refugees can be a very destabilizing force indeed. Mr. Chairman. I suggest that beyond our humanitarian concerns we have to consider this amendment in terms of the interest of the United States in maintaining the stability of Pakistan and Somalia and all of these other countries where refugees are growing in number. Mr. Chairman. I think that if we look at it in those terms we will readily appreciate why we must join with other countries in responding to the desperate plight of the growing number of refugees. Our interest in assuring their survival is the fundamental reason for supporting this amendment. but we must also understand that those refugees can be a destabilizing factor in countries which are important to us and will become increasingly so if we do not respond. Once again. consider please Pakistan and the geography of that region. 300 miles separates the Afghanistan/border from the sea. Russian troops are 300 miles from the sea and those 300 miles are in a part of Pakistan which was inherently unstable even before the buildup of refugees. Now we have the refugee inflow. and it is important for us to be sure that that region of the country is not further destabilized. Therefore. from a humanitarian point of view. from the point of view of our security interests in Pakistan. Somalia. and these other parts of the world. that we support this amendment.
Keywords matched
refugee refugees