Session #101 · 1989–91

Speech #1010165538

Mr. President. once again the respected U.S. Committee for Refugees has produced its World Refugee Survey. the annual volume that provides an authoritative account of the world refugee situation. The survey this year reports on the desperate situation of the worlds 15 million refugees. Refugee situations that we thought might be on the way to solution. such as Afghans in Pakistan and the Vietnamese boat people. continue to be of serious concern. I have myself been in touch with the authorities in Hong Kong about their threat to send additional Vietnamese refugees back to Vietnam against their will. Some of the gravest refugee problems are in Africa. where hundreds of thousands suffer from illness and malnutrition. Such respected organizations as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross are so short of funds that even minimum care and feeding programs are in jeopardy. In his introduction to the Survey. Mr. Rogers P. Winter. director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees. writes: We cannot but be thrilled at the victories achieved for human rightsfor peoplein 1989. but I believe we break faith with the victims in Timisoara and in Beijing if our vision is myopic. The aspirations that produced revolution in Eastern Europe are endemic to the human species. They are real in Cambodia. in Somalia. in Burma. in El Salvador. in Sudan. in Haiti. too. With traditional geopolitics increasingly neutralized. we cannot afford to see this new decade as anything less than a time to make major strides worldwide in improving human rights. responding to the victims of inequity and abuse. and elevating the quality of our approach to those caught in humanitarian disasters. I ask that Mr. Winters introductory statement "The Year in Review" and his comments on "More Refugees. Fewer Dollars: The International Crisis in Refugee Assistance" in the World Refugee Survey be printed in point.
Keywords matched
Refugees Refugee refugee refugees

Classification

Target group
Also mentioned
Afghans Vietnamese
Sentiment
Positive
Stereotyping
No
Confidence
100%
Model
gemini-2.0-flash
Framing
Humanitarian

Speaker & context

Speaker
CLAIBORNE PELL
Party
D
Chamber
S
State
RI
Gender
M
Date
1990-06-13
Speech ID
1010165538
Paragraph
#0
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