28. Letter From Secretary of State Vance to Representative Clement J. Zablocki1

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Thank you for your letter of September 8, suggesting that I refer to the tragic plight of the Kampuchean people in my speech at the United Nations General Assembly this month.2

I fully share your dismay at the pattern of gross violations of the most elementary human rights by the authorities in Kampuchea. President Carter and many US officials have spoken out in the past about their concern.

I seriously considered your suggestion, but concluded that focusing before the General Assembly on a single human rights violator—even one as gross as Kampuchea—would not be appropriate and would raise questions about the omission of other countries. I decided instead to refer to the need to end conditions everywhere which are tantamount to genocide.3 This reference clearly encompasses what is happening in Kampuchea, as was made clear during the press backgrounding on my speech by senior Department officials.

In light of recent attempts by the Kampucheans to establish wider international contacts, I plan to try to broaden international human rights pressures on the Pol Pot government through private discussions at the UN and elsewhere with other governments likely to be in direct contact with Phnom Penh. I would hope in this way to ensure that human rights are raised with the Khmer authorities in the course of most of their bilateral discussions with other governments. We will [Page 96] also, of course, speak out on the situation in Kampuchea as human rights problems are taken up during the course of the General Assembly.

I hope that this strategy will contribute toward moderating the violence and suffering in Kampuchea and will continue to seek ways of influencing the situation there.

Let me assure you of my appreciation for your counsel. I know of your great interest in seeing that the US implement its human rights objectives effectively and apply its human rights standards consistently and carefully in the broad context of our foreign policy goals.

Best wishes,

Sincerely,

Cy Vance
  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Policy and Planning Staff—Office of the Director: Records of Anthony Lake, 1977–January 1981, Lot 82D298, Box 3, TL, 9/16–30/78. No classification marking. Vance’s speech is printed in Department of State Bulletin, November 1978, pp. 45–54.
  2. In his September 8 letter to Vance, attached but not printed, Zablocki suggested that in order “to help bring about a solution in Cambodia and relieve the plight of the people there,” Vance include in his upcoming UNGA speech “references to Cambodia.” Vance delivered his speech to the UN General Assembly on September 29. See Department of State Bulletin, November 1978, pp. 45–48.
  3. In a September 29 action memorandum to Vance recommending that he sign the letter to Zablocki, Lake wrote, “After weighing the pros and cons, particularly Dick Holbrooke’s strong recommendation that we not single out Cambodia by name, you decided instead to refer to the need to make a special effort to end ‘conditions which are tantamount to genocide’—a reference that arguably includes Cambodia as well as other particularly brutal cases.” (National Archives, RG 59, Policy and Planning Staff—Office of the Director: Records of Anthony Lake, 1977–January 1981, Lot 82D298, Box 3, TL, 9/16–30/78)