Speaker. the plight of Vietnamese boat people is one of the greatest tragedies of the day. In search of freedom they take to the seas in small and fragile crafts and face the perils of ocean storms and the even worse threat of brutal and vicious attacks by pirates. In the first half of 1984 almost 50 percent of the refugee boats reaching Thailand were attacked. frequently more than once. And. countless other boats never even reach the shore. Clearly. the horrors inflicted upon these innocent refugeesmurder. rape. abductionare unacceptable to the civilized world. The international community has a moral obligation to deter pirate attacks and assist the victims. One antipiracy program which has the potential to save hundreds of lives is for ships at sea to come to the aid of floundering refugee boats. The front page of todays New York Times carries the story of the humanitarian efforts of 3 Americans. whose boat came to the assistance of 86 refugees who may otherwise have perished at sea. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees presented the Nansen Medal. the highest honor for humanitarian efforts. on behalf of refugees to Capt. Lewis M. Hiller and two crewmembers. Jeffrey H. Kass and Gregg Turay. I commend these Americans and call upon my colleagues to join me in urging other ship captains to assist refugee boats in distrees. The story follows:
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