TNAG-1537-FCO40-2101-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1986 — Page 9

NO. 179

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cooperating in providing refugee assistance.

The list seemed

familiar, although some of the agencies had slightly different

names and addressees.

Then I looked at the date of the

pamphlet. It was 1956, and the subject was the Hungarian

refugee crisis of that October just thirty years ago. The

voluntary agencies and our refugee programs have been around a

long time; they carry on a tradition today in which we can take

great pride.

Multilateral Approach

An integral part of that tradition has been our leadership

in advancing an international, multilateral approach to the

resolution of refugee situations. We have consistently taken

the lead in working to strengthen international mechanisms to

deal with the expanding scope of refugee problems:

--The program and office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) grew five-fold in the

past decade in response to the increase both in the number

of refugee crises, and in the absolute numbers of refugees

world-wide. By a conservative count, there are now more

than ten million refugees living outside their native lands

and unable to return. On every continent the UNHCR stands

as the first line of defense for refugees: it speaks out

for their protection; it provides for their care and

maintenance; it seeks humane alternative solutions to their

plight.