Australia to take S. Am. refugees

Press, 21 August 1984, Page 31

Australia to take S. Am. refugees

NZPA-AAP Sydney Australia will step up its intake of South American refugees in 1985, with 500 more immigrants to be accepted from the region. However, the Minister of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, Mr Stewart West, said the numbers would be nothing like those brought in under the Indo-Chinese programme. “We are taking people recommended to us by the voluntary agencies such as the Red Cross, the International Committee on Migration, and other humani-

tarian organisations,” he said. Accepted refugees would be people at risk, such as trade unionists, land cooperative instructors, and those who refused to join guerrillas. Mr West said Australia would be accepting exiles from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile and Colombia and people at risk within countries of the region. “We will not embark on a mass refugee programme out of Central or South America of the kind initiated by the former Govern-

ment in relation to Vietnam,” said Mr West Speaking after a trip to the United States and Central America to discuss refugee programmes, Mr West said, that 1500 Central American refugees would be accepted in 1984-85. He said the increased intake would not fuel the antiimmigration debate because the numbers involved were small. The Government had decided to increase the intake because many people in El Sslvador, Chile, and other South American countries

were being deprived of basic social ana political liberties, he said.