Speech #1000094592

There are many geopolitical and strategic reasons for the civil wars raging in many Third World states today. But in the midst of the strife. there are the omnipresent men. women. and children forced to leave their homes. forced to leave all that they own. forced to go to strange lands with little hope for the future. The world has always seen refugeeswars have always left their victims homeless. repression has always forced people to flee their homelands. But in the past decade or so. the character of the refugee problem has changed. The world has seen tremendous growth in a new class of refugees: those with little chance to return to their country in the foreseeable future. Unlike refugees in the past. the new refugees have little prospect of returning to their homes. And they are found in all regions of the developing world. The new stateless peoples are the real victims of conflict in the Third World. Something like 5 million Afghans have fled the brutality of the Soviet puppet regime in their country. Despite occasional headlines trumpeting progress in negotiations. it does not appear that the Soviet Union is ready to end its occupation of Afghanistan soon. Southeast Asia has faced the refugee problem for much longer than South Asia. Laotians. Cambodians. and Vietnamese have fled their states by the millions since Communists came to power in the 1970s. The tragedy of Southeast Asia is not over. The refugee camps in Thailand remain filled to more than capacity and countries willing to offer resettlement seem to be flagging in their commitment. The Thais have begun to close down refugee camps and force their inhabitants back to what can only be described as a most uncertain future. People who have barely escaped with their livesoften losing relatives and enduring incredible hardshipare being forced to go back in cruel twist of fate. In Africa. millions more are homeless. Civil wars rage in Angola. the western Sahara. Sudan. and Mozambique. Forced resettlement in Ethiopia. a particularly vicious policy. has combined with repression and a separatist war to leave a million or more refugees. Closer to home. conflict in Central America has created millions of refugees. chiefly from El Salvador and Nicaragua. Those fleeing strife have placed a tremendous burden on the resources of host states: Mexico. Costa Rica. and Belize. Thousands more have sought sanctuary in the United States. leading to a divisive debate over U.S. policy toward Central American refugees. While demagogues on both sides of the Contra aid issue use the refugee plight for their own arguments. the wars continue and the ranks of the refugees continue to swell. The refugee crisis of the 1980s does not lend itself to simple solutions. Greater support for international agencies involved in refugee work is needed. A strong U.S. commitment to resettlement must continue. But if the refugee crisis is ever to ease. there must be concerted effort to deal with the causes. not merely the symptoms. of refugee creation. This means the political will to address the regional security issues and civil wars that force so many to leave their country. Until the Soviet Union decides to allow Afghanistan the right of selfdetermination. refugees will not go home. Until there is peace in Central America. refugees will not be able to return safely to their homelands. As long as civil strife continues throughout Africa. refugees will have no place to go besides the squalor of the camps. But beyond working toward resolution of the root causes of the refugee crisis. there is much that we can do. When I heard of Thai plans to close the Khao I Dang refugee camp near the Cambodian border. I wrote to United States officials and asked that they express our desire that the camp remain open to the appropriate Thai officials. I joined with Senator HATFIELD in sponsoring S. 814. the Indochinese Resettlement and Protection Act of 1987. S. 814 would address Thai concerns that the United States commitment to refugee resettlement is waning by committing the United States to a steady number of admissions from Southeast Asia. as well as providing funds for education in the Thai camps. S. 814 would go a long way to alleviating the tragic plight of Southeast Asian refugees. I have also been active in other areas. When I heard that U.S. assistance programs for refugees were slated for reductions. I acted quickly and drafted a resolution which expressed the sense of the Senate that Federal refugee assistance should be maintained. As the Senate moves toward finalizing our appropriations for the next fiscal year. I have written to the chair of the Appropriations Committee and urged him to maintain adequate levels of refugee assistance. I will continue to monitor Federal assistance very closely and to do all I can to ensure that aid is not cut. I have also spoken repeatedly on the need to address the problems in Central America that lead to refugees being forced to leave. Progress toward democracy is the best guarantee of the political freedom that is so lacking in the societies that generate refugees. And peace is the best guarantee of reducing the number of people forced to flee war and destruction. I have supported the peace plan proposed by President Arias and continue to hope that the wars in the region can be resolved. But until that time. I do not think that the United States should deport Central Americans on the basis that they are economic migrants rather than refugees. Toward this end. I have cosponsored S. 332. which would provide for a stay of deportation for Salvadorans and Nicaraguans pending a full report on the conditions they face upon return to their countries. I have supported this bill in past Congresses and continue to believe that sending thousands of Salvadorans and Nicaraguans back to their countries is not good refugee policy nor is it good foreign policy. While these measures by themselves will not solve the refugee crisis. they will all help. The refugee issue is not simply abstractnot for me not for my constituents. In my meetings and in my travel. I have seen first hand the intense personal tragedy of what it means to be a refugee. I have heard heartrendering stories of new Americans that had to leave everything behind. all too often relatives and friends as well as personal possessions. In addition. my State of Minnesota is a national leader in its efforts on behalf of refugees. Over 26.000 refugees from Southeast Asia have made their home in Minnesota. It has not always been easy for them but their presence has immeasurably enhanced the already rich melting pot of Minnesota. Many of my constituents are active in assisting refugees throughout the worldfrom Thailand to Sudan. from Namibia to Honduras. I am proud of their efforts and will continue to do all I can to support refugees around the world. An insightful and thoughtprovoking series of articles on the international refugee crisis recently appeared in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune from September 1316. Mr. President.