840.48 Refugees/4865a: Circular telegram
The Secretary of State to Diplomatic Representatives in the American Republics
The United States and British Governments released today separate but parallel statements explaining what has been done and what is contemplated with respect to the problem of refugees from Nazi tyranny. The United States release is in the form of a statement by the Honorable Breckinridge Long before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.20a A copy will be furnished to each mission as soon as available. There follows a summary of points which it is believed will be of immediate interest to you and to the governments to which you are accredited.
- 1.
- The United States and Great Britain have now agreed on and are urging
the other member states of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees
to agree on the enlargement of the scope of the Committee by means of a
new mandate reading as follows:
“The Executive Committee of the Intergovernmental Committee is hereby empowered by the member states to undertake negotiations with neutral and Allied states or organizations and to take such steps as may be necessary to preserve, maintain, and transport those persons displaced from their homes by their efforts to escape from areas where their lives and liberty are in danger on account of their race, religion, or political beliefs. The operation of the committee shall extend to all countries from which refugees come as a result of the war in Europe or in which they may find refuge. The Executive Committee shall be empowered to receive and disburse for the purposes enumerated above funds both public and private.”
- 2.
- The United States is supporting before the Executive Committee of the IGC in London (on which Argentina and Brazil are the other American republics represented) a proposal that the IGC establish agencies in certain key (neutral) countries.
- 3.
- The United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union have adopted, and are urging adoption by the European Allied Governments and the French Committee of National Liberation, of a joint [Page 238] declaration looking toward the return to their homes after the war of those refugees from Axis and Axis-dominated countries who desire repatriation. (The text of this declaration will be transmitted to you after it has been agreed on, and if possible before publication.)
In case any question is raised as to the reasons for limiting the participants in the declaration mentioned in 3 above to the United States, the European Allied Governments, and the French Committee of National Liberation, you are instructed to reply in the following sense: It has been thought that it would be well to limit the declaration to apply to Europe, following the joint statement of December 16, 1942, condemning Nazi treatment of the Jews in Europe (Radio Bulletin no. 297, December 17, 194221). With respect to United States participation you may find it appropriate to remark upon the long-continuing active interest of this Government in the refugee problem and to refer particularly to the President’s calling of the Evian Conference in 1938.
For your background information, El Salvador is the only American republic not a member of the IGC, while Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama have not yet participated in the renewed activities of the IGC which have grown out of the Bermuda Conference.