Page image
Page image

59

return to their native countries should also be placed in a similar category. He said, too, that the administration of camps should be designated under the control of the United Nations in agreement with the Governments of the countries whose nationals represent the majority of persons in a particular camp. He insisted that such camps should be closed to any propaganda discouraging repatriation. The political result of such propaganda had been that those who were opposed to repatriation had had every opportunity for unbridled action, while those who wished to return to their homes were kept in ignorance of the true facts. Nor had the Governments whose nationals were in those camps been permitted to check up on those who were there. Mr Vyshinsky also spoke extensively about the military and para-military formations which had operated on the side of Hitlerite Germany and had not yet been disbanded and which were, at the present time, enjoying the protection of Allied Military Governments. This speech was the most extreme expression of this viewpoint, but many of the points were supported by the delegates of other countries whose nationals are in refugee camps, such as Yugoslavia, the Ukraine, and Poland. The Polish delegate, however, stated that his Government did not exclude the possibility of resettlement in certain exceptional cases such as that of the Spanish Republican refugees. The French delegate, M. Jouhaux, supported the Soviet views regarding the danger of anti-repatriation propaganda and agreed that members of military formations should not become the concern of the International Refugee Organization. He thought that the Governments who gave shelter to such units should also be responsible for them. M. Jouhaux emphatically differed from the Soviet, however, on the point that persons not wishing to return to their countries of origin should not receive assistance —political dissidents must, he said, be assisted to resettle in other countries. This was the major cleavage of opinion in the Committee. The United States delegate, Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, spoke very strongly against compulsory repatriation, and received support from representatives of countries such as Belgium and members of the British Commonwealth. The United Kingdom representative, who also supported resettlement as well as repatriation, emphasized that eleven million of the twelve million refugees and displaced persons had been returned to their countries of origin. He agreed with the Soviet that nothing should be neglected in encouraging repatriation, and he felt that to this end the propaganda of representatives of the countries of origin might be made more attractive. He dealt also with the allegations made by Mr Vyshinsky concerning military units which have not been disbanded, and said that, as far as the Poles in General Anders' Army were concerned, they were among the first to fight for us, and the United Kingdom was proud to be able to repay its debt to them. He said, too, that they would not come within the scope of the International Refugee Organization. Although New Zealand did not take part in the general

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert