Indifference to refugees ‘common’

Press, 10 October 1984, Page 11

Indifference to refugees ‘common’

NZPA-Reuter Geneva Indifference and violence towards refugees had become common in many parts of the world, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr Poul Hartling, said in Geneva yesterday. Mr Hartling told the annual session of the U.N.H.C.R.’s 41-nation executive committee that in many countries there had been “manifest erosion” of the fundamental concept of asylum. That was coupled with a tendency to look the other way when the United Nations body was seeking durable solutions for resettling refugees in new homes in other lands, he said.

“Are we suffering compassion fatigue? Have the number, magnitude, and duration of major refugee situations in the world led to disaffection, perhaps even a certain cynicism in the international community?” Mr Hartling said. “I am equally troubled by many different forms of violence, of which refugees are the helpless victims, whether it be on land or at sea, and the relatively modest efforts being made by the international community to tackle this heartbreaking problem.”