FIRST MEETING (PUBLIC) Held on Wednesday, July 6th, 1938, at 4 p.m.
Chairman : His Excellency M. Henry Berenger.
1. Opening of the Session.
The Chairman [Translation].óI have the privilege to-day, as the delegate of the French Government, of welcoming to France, a country of refuge and free discussion, the Intergovernmental Committee for political refugees, which is meeting in response to the moving appeal made by the President of the Republic of the United States of America. I feel it a great honour to be invested with such a privilege, and I am convinced that this Committee will produce something new and practical to add to the brilliant and eloquent achievements of the League of Nations and the High Commissioner for Refugees from Germany.
It is not, of course, the moment to embark upon the actual consideration of the problems before this Committee. This, after all, is an opening meeting, and my sole task at present is to extend a welcome to all, not only to my colleagues members of the Intergovernmental Committee, but also to the representatives of the Press, who have attended in such large numbers in order to gather information regarding the Committee, and to the great associations for refugees, who have hitherto so vigorously and courageously defended a cause which is specially sacred.
I therefore wish you all welcome and, in particular, I welcome the free and independent Press, which alone is able to create that atmosphere in which liberty and democracy can prosper. Our common aim is freedom of thought and the right of all to live freely as they desire.
I would also assure the various refugee associations who have come here of their own free will that they are heartily welcome. May I add that if they were not convened, the reason is that we are not an international conference. This is not a parliament of the kind that meets at the end of the lake, nor is it a platform for declarations. Rather, we are simply a body which the President of the United States desired to create between America and the other continents. Its aim is modest; it will seek to apply those philosophical maxims and ideas which have been so brilliantly put forward in past years in the Sixth Committee of the Assembly of the League of Nations.
I think that I shall be expressing the wishes of all present in assuring Mr. Roosevelt, the distinguished President of the United States of America, of the gratitude which the whole world feels for his generous initiatives, and, more particularly, that which he took on March
25th last. It was President Roosevelt who asked Mr. Cordell Hull to send the various Governments represented here the appeal received by you. I therefore venture to ask the distinguished Ambassador appointed by President Roosevelt to convey to the latter the thanks of all here present. We all know the great work which he has already accomplished in the United States in reconciling capital and labour, and I take this opportunity of paying a sincere tribute to that work. We trust that from this practical and effective collaboration with the United States will emerge something of value to the refugees all over the world who are to-day the Stateless victims of national revolutions in the various countries. Not only are you heartily welcome, Mr. Ambassador, but with you a great hope is bornóthe hope that the task already undertaken by the League of Nations will be consummated.
2. Nomination of the Credentials Committee.
The Chairman [Translation].óI propose that the following members be appointed to this Committee : the delegates of Australia, Colombia, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The proposal was adopted.
The Chairman [Translation].ó-This Committee will meet as soon as possible; accordingly, I invite the various heads of delegations to deposit with the Secretariat credentials received from their Governments.
3. General Statements.
The Chairman [Translation].óWe are now going to hear a number of declarations. Before calling on His Excellency Mr. Myron C. Taylor, however, I should like to welcome three persons whom we invited to be members of theBureau, and whose presence shows the close link that exists between the League of Nations, the High Commissariat for Refugees from Germany, and the work that we are undertaking to-day. We do not intend to make any innovations; that was ó 12 ó
not the desire of President Roosevelt. The idea was simply to assemble a committee which would include countries which are not members of the League of Nations, and I therefore desire to say how glad we are to have with us M. J. Avenol, the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, Mr. John Winant, the Director of the International Labour Office, and Sir Neill Malcolm, the High Commissioner for Refugees from Germany, whose work has proved so valuable following upon that already done by Mr. McDonald.

Mr. Myron C. Taylor (United States of America).óOn behalf of my Government, I wish to express my gratitude to the Government of France and to the distinguished Ambassador of Franceówho is affectionately remembered in my countryóM. Berenger, President of the Foreign Relations Committee of the French Senate, for the hearty collaboration that has been extended in organising this meeting of Governments which has been called on the initiative of President Roosevelt, and for the friendly interest which M. Berenger has manifested in presiding to-day. I also wish to express my appreciation of His Excellency's many courtesies to me since I came to the fair land of France.
Mr. Chairman : Some millions of people, as this meeting convenes, are, actually or potentially, without a country. The number is increasing daily. This increase is taking place, moreover, at a time when there is serious unemployment in many countries, when there is a shrinkage of subsistence bases and when the population of the world is at a peak.
Men and women of every race, creed and economic condition, of every profession and of every trade, are being uprooted from the homes where they have long been established and turned adrift without thought or care as to what will become of them or where they will go. A major forced migration is taking place, and the time has come when GovernmentsóI refer specifically to those Governments which have had the problem of political refugees thrust upon them by the policies of some other Governmentsómust act and act promptly and effectively in a long-range programme of comprehensive scale.

Mindful of the harrowing urgency of this situation, President Roosevelt took the initiative of calling this meeting at Evian. The response of thirty-two Governments which were invited to participate has been generous and encouraging and the courtesy of the French Government in offering the hospitality of its territory to the meeting and in arranging the technical details of our reception calls for deepest appreciation and most profound thanks.
At the outset, we must consider that we are dealing with a form of migration which presents peculiar difficulties. The earliest migratory movements of which we have record consisted in the migration of races which overran Western and Southern Europe in a concerted hostile movement of whole peoples, advancing as military or political waves on those areas of the world where a high standard of living was already established. Then came the colonisation movements, which were largely migrations by organised groups, usually under direct political authorisation essentially for governmental purposes. This was followed by the nineteenth and early twentieth century migration, which was movement by individuals and families on an enormous scale induced by unsatisfactory economic and living conditions in the countries of origin and promise of a higher standard of living in the countries of settlement. Now, we have a form of compulsory migration, artificially stimulated by governmental practices in some countries which force upon the world at large great bodies of reluctant migrants who must be absorbed in abnormal circumstances with a disregard of economic conditions at a time of stress.
We must admit frankly, indeed, that this problem of political refugees is so vast and so complex that we probably can do no more at the initial intergovernmental meeting than put in motion the machinery, and correlate it with existing machinery, that will, in the long run, contribute to a practicable amelioration of the condition of the unfortunate human beings with whom we are concerned. While, for example, our ultimate objective should be to establish an organisation which would concern itself with all refugees, wherever governmental intolerance shall have created a refugee problem, we may find that we shall be obliged on this occasion to focus our immediate attention upon the most pressing problem of political refugees from Germany (including Austria). Accordingly, my Government, in its invitation, referred specifically to the problem of German (and Austrian) refugees and proposes that, for the purposes of this initial intergovernmental meeting and without wishing to set a precedent for future meetings, persons coming within the scope of the Conference shall be : (a) persons who have not already left Germany (including Austria) but who desire to emigrate by reason of the treatment to which they are subjected on account of their political opinions, religious beliefs or racial origin, and (b) persons as defined in (a) who have already left Germany and are in process of migration.
Doubtless, some delegates will suggest that there is already established under the general
supervision of the League of Nations a Commission for political emigrants from Germany and what the Council of the League of Nations on May 14th 1938, agreed upon a resolution making recommendations with regard to the reorganization of the Commission and with regard to the Nansen Office, whose distinguished head of the delegate of Norway. It is the firm belief of the American Lrovernment tnat tne intergovernmental oigaiusaiiuu winuii it is proposed to set up at this meeting, the League Commission and the Nansen Office should be complementary and should work together towards a solution of the problem of political refugees in which the fate of so many hapless human beings is at stake. As evidence of my Government's intentions in this respect, I should like to propose, before we proceed further, that Sir Neill Malcolm, the League's Commissioner for Refugees from Germany, should be invited by the Intergovernmental Committee to assist in its deliberations. Happily, as I have already observed, Judge Michael Hansson, head of the Nansen Office, is officially in attendance and will, I am sure, give us the benefit of his profound knowledge and wide experience.
I shall not at this point dwell at length upon the technical aspects of the problem with which we shall have to deal. May I merely suggest that it will be advisable for us to exchange, for the strictly confidential information of the Committee, details regarding the number and the type of immigrants whom each Government is prepared to receive under its existing laws and practices, details regarding these laws and practices and indications regarding those parts of the territory of each participating Government which may be adapted to the settlement of immigrants. Then there will be the problem, which must be carefully considered, of documenting political emigrants who have been obliged to leave the country of their original residence in circumstances which render impossible the production of customary documents. It will also be incumbent upon us to consider the various studies which have been made in the respective countries of the problems of aiding the emigration and the settling and the financing of political refugees. I might observe, in this connection, that President Roosevelt has set up in the United States an Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, whose Chairman, Mr. James G. McDonald, is at present at this meeting and will, I know, be prepared to furnish you with detailed information regarding his organisation.
You will have noted that my Government's invitation to this meeting stated specifically that whatever action was recommended here should take place within the framework of the existing laws and practices of the participating Governments. The American Government prides itself upon the liberality of its existing laws and practices, both as regards the number of immigrants whom the United States receives each year for assimilation with its population and the treatment of those people when they have arrived. I might point out that the American Government has taken steps to consolidate both the German and the former Austrian quota, so that now a total of 27,370 immigrants may enter the United States on the German quota in one year.
From the inception of this present effort on behalf of political refugees, it has been the view of the American Government that the meeting at Evian would serve primarily to initiate the collaboration of the receiving Governments in their assistance to political refugees, and that the work would have to be carried forward subsequently in a more permanent form. It is the belief of the American Government that this permanent collaboration might be most effectively maintained by the regular meeting of the diplomatic representatives of the participating Governmentsóor such other representative as a participating Government may wish to designateóin a European capital, and we hope that the French Government will agree that these meetings may take place at Paris. It might be useful if a Secretariat were to be established to assist the Intergovernmental Committee in its continued form in caring for administrative detailsóthe expenses of this Secretariat to be borne by the participating Governments on a basis to be recommended by this initial meeting.
In conclusion, I need not emphasise that discrimination and pressure against minority groups and the disregard of elementary human rights are contrary to the principles of what we have come to regard as the accepted standards of civilisation. We have heard from time to time of the disruptive consequences of the dumping of merchandise upon the world's economy. How much more disturbing is the forced and chaotic dumping of unfortunate peoples in large numbers. Racial and religious problems are, in consequence, rendered more acute in all parts of the world. Economic retaliation against the countries which are responsible for this condition is encouraged. The sentiment of international mistrust and suspicion is heightened, and fear, which is an important obstacle to general appeasement between nations, is accentuated.
The problem is no longer one of purely private concern. It is a problem for intergovernmental action. If the present currents of migration are permitted to continue to push anarchi-cally upon the receiving States and if some Governments are to continue to toss large sections of their populations lightly upon a distressed and unprepared world, then there is catastrophic human suffering ahead which can only result in general unrest and in general international strain which will not be conducive to the permanent appeasement to which all peoples earnestly aspire.
Lord Winterton (United Kingdom).óHis Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom warmly welcome the generous initiative of the President of the United States in calling this meeting together to consider the international problem which has been created by the actual
and prospective emigration from Germany and Austria. I wish also to express my thanks to the French Government, whom we are proud to have as our hosts and who have been at such pains to make the arrangements for this meeting.
His Majesty's Government are anxious to co-operate to the fullest extent possible with the United States Government and the other Governments represented at this meeting in the endeavour to find a practical means of relieving the difficulties which confront the unfortunate people who wish to emigrate, and the countries which are asked to receive them. I have listened with great pleasure to the speech of the United States delegate, and I am in general agreement with him as to the nature of the task which lies before us.
For His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and for the British people, this problem is mainly a humanitarian one. It has been the traditional policy of successive British Governments to offer asylum to persons who, for political, racial or religious reasons, have had to leave their own countries. The United Kingdom has never yet had cause to regret this policy, and refugees have often enriched the life and contributed to the prosperity of the British people. But the United Kingdom is not a country of immigration. It is highly industrialized, fully populated and is still faced with the problem of unemployment. For economic and social reasons, the traditional policy of granting asylum can only be applied within narrow limits. But within those limits, the people of the United Kingdom are ready to play their part.
His Majesty's Government have now had more than five years' experience in dealing with the problem of refugees coming from Germany and have signed both the international instruments which were drawn up at the Intergovernmental Conference held at Geneva under the auspices of the League of Nations in 1936 and 1938. It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to ratify the Convention of 1938 at the earliest possible moment, i.e., August 9th next, and they trust that other countries which were not represented at the Conferences or have not yet signed the Provisional Arrangement of 1936 or the Convention of 1938 will seriously consider if they can now accede to one or other of these covenants, which provide for a certain measure of protection for refugees coming from Germany. It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to apply the provisions of the Convention of 1938 to refugees coming from Austria.
Turning to the practical measures which have been taken to ensure that refugees coming to the United Kingdom should be treated in a humane and sympathetic manner, His Majesty's Government have from the beginning of this movement of emigrants from Germany worked in the most intimate and constant co-operation with the voluntary organizations. The policy followed in full consultation with these organizations has been of a two-fold character. On the one hand, it was recognized that in a highly industrial and thickly populated country like the United Kingdom, there were certain difficulties in absorbing foreigners within the present economic framework. It was considered therefore that, in a large number of cases, particularly of young people, the refugees would eventually have to proceed to a country of final settlement overseas, and to this end facilities have been freely given to young persons to undertake a course of education or enter industrial enterprises for training or re-training. In addition, permission for an extended stay in the United Kingdom has been granted to many others until arrangements for their emigration to another country have been completed. On the other hand, the majority of refugees who have been admitted to the United Kingdom have not been re-emigrated, and in a large number of cases it has been found possible to agree to their remaining and establishing themselves in industry, business and in various professions. His Majesty's Government recognize that some of these refugees have made a useful contribution to the national life in their various fields of activity. Some of them, by starting new enterprises in areas where there is a large amount of unemployment, have made a contribution towards the scheme for increasing trade in such districts.
It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to continue the practice which has been developed during the past five years in dealing with the various categories of refugees and, in consultation with voluntary organizations, to explore to what extent they can accelerate the process of assimilation of those elements among the present refugee population who can usefully be fitted into the social and economic life of the country. His Majesty's Government have been prepared to examine in a spirit of sympathy applications, not only from refugees who are admitted to the United Kingdom for education, training or other reason, on the understanding that they will eventually emigrate, but also applications from other refugees in the United Kingdom who wish to establish themselves there without the fear that they will be required to leave the country. His Majesty's Government believe that one of the most useful contributions which countries of first refuge can make to the work of the present Conference would be to signify their readiness to absorb, so far as they can, in their economic, industrial and social systems the refugees from Germany and Austria who have already been admitted to their territories. I hope at a later stage in our proceedings to have an opportunity of indicating in detail the practical contribution which His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom are prepared to make in finding openings in the United Kingdom for the persons who may desire, in the next few years, to leave Germany and Austria.
His Majesty's Government are also carefully surveying the prospects of the admission of refugees to their colonies and overseas territories. The question is not a simple one. The economic and social factors which operate in the United Kingdom are here further complicated by considerations of climate, of race and of political development. Many overseas territories are already overcrowded, others are wholly or partly unsuitable for European settlement,while in others again local political conditions hinder or prevent any considerable immigration. These factors impose strict limitations on the opportunities for offering asylum to European refugees, but His Majesty's Government are not unhopeful that some of their colonial territories may in their turn be able to take a part, if only a relatively minor part, in assisting to solve the problem. His Majesty's Government are, in particular, examining the possibility which may exist for settlement in certain of the East African territories. But any project which may emerge is unlikely to involve the settlement of more than a limited number of selected families, at any rate in the early stages. The whole matter is under active consideration at the present time. It is obvious that careful local investigations must precede anything in the nature of concrete proposals. These investigations are now proceeding ; but time has been short, and though it is my strong hope that the results will be encouraging, my colleagues will appreciate that at the present stage it would be premature for me to make any positive statement on the subject.
I trust that if all the Governments represented here are willing on their side to make a positive contribution, however modest, this meeting may make progress in the fulfilment of what, in my opinion, is its primary taskónamely, the enlargement of the facilities for the admission of emigrants from Germany and Austria to countries of permanent refuge.
There is a second matter which cannot be ignored in considering this problem of emigration. This meeting will endeavour to find an orderly solution of the difficulties before it, but its tasks will be immeasurably complicated and even rendered insoluble unless the country of origin is prepared to make its contribution, and unless emigrants which other countries may be asked to accept have some means of self-support. No thickly populated country can be expected to accept persons who are deprived of their means of subsistence before they are able to enter it. Nor can the resources of private societies be expected to make good the losses which the emigrants have suffered. If countries of immigration are to do their best to facilitate the admission of emigrants, then they are entitled to expect that the country of origin, on its side, will equally assist in creating conditions in which the emigrants are able to start life in other countries with some prospect of success.
The United States delegate referred to the question of machinery and of organisation. I warmly agree with his desire to co-ordinate and correlate the work of this meeting as closely as possible with the work of other agencies. The Governments represented here will be aware of the work which has been done on certain aspects of the refugee question by the organs of the League of Nations, work which it is intended to continue after the end of the present year. I would draw the special attention of the meeting to that part of the report adopted by the Council of the League on May 14th last in which the future High Commissioner's work is defined. I think it very important to avoid duplication of effort and multiplication of international organisations, more particularly as it will be the action of Governments rather than the creation of machinery which will be decisive in the solution of this problem of emigration. I feel sure it will be possible to find means of avoiding duplication. I wish to support Mr. Taylor's proposal that the League High Commissioner for Refugees coming from Germany should be invited to assist at our discussions.
We shall have an opportunity later of discussing the more detailed points raised by the United States delegate, and I have only one more general observation to make.
This meeting has been convened to consider the question of emigration from Germany and Austria and not to deal with the problem of emigration from other countries. There might be some who would prefer us to survey a more extended horizon, but the limited problem before us will tax, even in favourable circumstances, the goodwill of the States represented here to the full, and it will only raise false expectations if it is believed that a policy of pressure on minorities of race and religion can force other countries to open their doors to its victims. There is no easy or immediate solution even to the problem before us, but I believe we can make a beginning and help to alleviate in some degree the consequences of a situation the poignancy and gravity of which has struck the imagination and excited the sympathy of people in all countries.
The Chairman (speaking as the representative of France) [Translation}.óThe French Government fully approves the initiative taken by the American Government and so clearly expounded in the speech which we have just heard.
Mr. Myron C. Taylor, the Ambassador specially appointed for this purpose by President Roosevelt, has acquainted us with the views of the President and the Department of State on the present-day refugee problem and the solutions which America proposes for it.
France feels all the greater sympathy for these solutions in that, since the Great War, she has constantly received, sheltered and even allowed to settle on her territory an enormous number of exiles and refugees from all quarters. These refugees now number more than 200,000 in a population of forty millions for whom the presence of more than three million aliens creates even now many difficult problems.
This is relatively the highest figure which can be claimed by any country as regards the problem raised by President Roosevelt.

and prospective emigration from Germany and Austria. I wish also to express my thanks to the French Government, whom we are proud to have as our hosts and who have been at such pains to make the arrangements for this meeting.
His Majesty's Government are anxious to co-operate to the fullest extent possible with the United States Government and the other Governments represented at this meeting in the endeavour to find a practical means of relieving the difficulties which confront the unfortunate people who wish to emigrate, and the countries which are asked to receive them. I have listened with great pleasure to the speech of the United States delegate, and I am in general agreement with him as to the nature of the task which lies before us.
For His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom and for the British people, this problem is mainly a humanitarian one. It has been the traditional policy of successive British Governments to offer asylum to persons who, for political, racial or religious reasons, have had to leave their own countries. The United Kingdom has never yet had cause to regret this policy, and refugees have often enriched the life and contributed to the prosperity of the British people. But the United Kingdom is not a country of immigration. It is highly industrialized, fully populated and is still faced with the problem of unemployment. For economic and social reasons, the traditional policy of granting asylum can only be applied within narrow limits. But within those limits, the people of the United Kingdom are ready to play their part.
His Majesty's Government have now had more than five years' experience in dealing with the problem of refugees coming from Germany and have signed both the international instruments which were drawn up at the Intergovernmental Conference held at Geneva under the auspices of the League of Nations in 1936 and 1938. It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to ratify the Convention of 1938 at the earliest possible moment, i.e., August 9th next, and they trust that other countries which were not represented at the Conferences or have not yet signed the Provisional Arrangement of 1936 or the Convention of 1938 will seriously consider if they can now accede to one or other of these covenants, which provide for a certain measure of protection for refugees coming from Germany. It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to apply the provisions of the Convention of 1938 to refugees coming from Austria.
Turning to the practical measures which have been taken to ensure that refugees coming to the United Kingdom should be treated in a humane and sympathetic manner, His Majesty's Government have from the beginning of this movement of emigrants from Germany worked in the most intimate and constant co-operation with the voluntary organizations. The policy followed in full consultation with these organizations has been of a two-fold character. On the one hand, it was recognized that in a highly industrial and thickly populated country like the United Kingdom, there were certain difficulties in absorbing foreigners within the present economic framework. It was considered therefore that, in a large number of cases, particularly of young people, the refugees would eventually have to proceed to a country of final settlement overseas, and to this end facilities have been freely given to young persons to undertake a course of education or enter industrial enterprises for training or re-training. In addition, permission for an extended stay in the United Kingdom has been granted to many others until arrangements for their emigration to another country have been completed. On the other hand, the majority of refugees who have been admitted to the United Kingdom have not been re-emigrated, and in a large number of cases it has been found possible to agree to their remaining and establishing themselves in industry, business and in various professions. His Majesty's Government recognize that some of these refugees have made a useful contribution to the national life in their various fields of activity. Some of them, by starting new enterprises in areas where there is a large amount of unemployment, have made a contribution towards the scheme for increasing trade in such districts.
It is the intention of His Majesty's Government to continue the practice which has been developed during the past five years in dealing with the various categories of refugees and, in consultation with voluntary organizations, to explore to what extent they can accelerate the process of assimilation of those elements among the present refugee population who can usefully be fitted into the social and economic life of the country. His Majesty's Government have been prepared to examine in a spirit of sympathy applications, not only from refugees who are admitted to the United Kingdom for education, training or other reason, on the understanding that they will eventually emigrate, but also applications from other refugees in the United Kingdom who wish to establish themselves there without the fear that they will be required to leave the country. His Majesty's Government believe that one of the most useful contributions which countries of first refuge can make to the work of the present Conference would be to signify their readiness to absorb, so far as they can, in their economic, industrial and social systems the refugees from Germany and Austria who have already been admitted to their territories. I hope at a later stage in our proceedings to have an opportunity of indicating in detail the practical contribution which His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom are prepared to make in finding openings in the United Kingdom for the persons who may desire, in the next few years, to leave Germany and Austria.
His Majesty's Government are also carefully surveying the prospects of the admission of refugees to their colonies and overseas territories. The question is not a simple one. The economic and social factors which operate in the United Kingdom are here further complicated by considerations of climate, of race and of political development. Many overseas territories are already overcrowded, others are wholly or partly unsuitable for European settlement,

ó 1 =
while in others again local political conditions hinder or prevent any considerable immigration. These factors impose strict limitations on the opportunities for offering asylum to European refugees, but His Majesty's Government are not unhopeful that some of their colonial territories may in their turn be able to take a part, if only a relatively minor part, in assisting to solve the problem. His Majesty's Government are, in particular, examining the possibility which may exist for settlement in certain of the East African territories. But any project which may emerge is unlikely to involve the settlement of more than a limited number of selected families, at any rate in the early stages. The whole matter is under active consideration at the present time. It is obvious that careful local investigations must precede anything in the nature of concrete proposals. These investigations are now proceeding; but time has been short, and though it is my strong hope that the results will be encouraging, my colleagues will appreciate that at the present stage it would be premature for me to make any positive statement on the subject.
I trust that if all the Governments represented here are willing on their side to make a positive contribution, however modest, this meeting may make progress in the fulfilment of what, in my opinion, is its primary taskónamely, the enlargement of the facilities for the admission of emigrants from Germany and Austria to countries of permanent refuge.
There is a second matter which cannot be ignored in considering this problem of emigration. This meeting will endeavour to find an orderly solution of the difficulties before it, but its tasks will be immeasurably complicated and even rendered insoluble unless the country of origin is prepared to make its contribution, and unless emigrants which other countries may be asked to accept have some means of self-support. No thickly populated country can be expected to accept persons who are deprived of their means of subsistence before they are able to enter it. Nor can the resources of private societies be expected to make good the losses which the emigrants have suffered. If countries of immigration are to do their best to facilitate the admission of emigrants, then they are entitled to expect that the country of origin, on its side, will equally assist in creating conditions in which the emigrants are able to start life in other countries with some prospect of success.
The United States delegate referred to the question of machinery and of organization. I warmly agree with his desire to co-ordinate and correlate the work of this meeting as closely as possible with the work of other agencies. The Governments represented here will be aware of the work which has been done on certain aspects of the refugee question by the organs of the League of Nations, work which it is intended to continue after the end of the present year. I would draw the special attention of the meeting to that part of the report adopted by the Council of the League on May 14th last in which the future High Commissioner's work is defined. I think it very important to avoid duplication of effort and multiplication of international organizations, more particularly as it will be the action of Governments rather than the creation of machinery which will be decisive in the solution of this problem of emigration. I feel sure it will be possible to find means of avoiding duplication. I wish to support Mr. Taylor's proposal that the League High Commissioner for Refugees coming from Germany should be invited to assist at our discussions.
We shall have an opportunity later of discussing the more detailed points raised by the United States delegate, and I have only one more general observation to make.
This meeting has been convened to consider the question of emigration from Germany and Austria and not to deal with the problem of emigration from other countries. There might be some who would prefer us to survey a more extended horizon, but the limited problem before us will tax, even in favorable circumstances, the goodwill of the States represented here to the full, and it will only raise false expectations if it is believed that a policy of pressure on minorities of race and religion can force other countries to open their doors to its victims. There is no easy or immediate solution even to the problem before us, but I believe we can make a beginning and help to alleviate in some degree the consequences of a situation the poignancy and gravity of which has struck the imagination and excited the sympathy of people in all countries.
The Chairman (speaking as the representative of France) [Translation].óThe French Government fully approves the initiative taken by the American Government and so clearly expounded in the speech which we have just heard.
Mr. Myron C. Taylor, the Ambassador specially appointed for this purpose by President Roosevelt, has acquainted us with the views of the President and the Department of State on the present-day refugee problem and the solutions which America proposes for it.
France feels all the greater sympathy for these solutions in that, since the Great War, she has constantly received, sheltered and even allowed to settle on her territory an enormous number of exiles and refugees from all quarters. These refugees now number more than 200,000 in a population of forty millions for whom the presence of more than three million aliens creates even now many difficult problems.
This is relatively the highest fishier whichcan be claimed by any country as regards the problem raised by President Roosevelt
ó 16 ó
France has hitherto solved the problem on her own territory, at her own risk and expense, through the medium of the benevolent and unselfish activities of private agencies in co-operation with the administrative resources of the French State and the organizations set up by the League of Nations.
Many millions of francs have thus been spent by French well-wishers on hundreds of thousands of refugees. Simultaneously, France has constantly endeavored to co-operate closely in defining and giving effect to a new social status for these unhappy individuals who have been so well called the " stateless " victims of present-day national revolutions.
France already takes part in the work of the Nansen Office, of the Office of the High Commissioner for German Refugees, and of the League of Nations Committee. And it has been unanimously admitted that that part is a most active one.
Thus France continues to be true to the long-standing tradition of universal hospitality which has characterized her throughout all her history. She will maintain this tradition so far as the limits laid down by her geographical position, her population and her resources permit. Though she has herself reached, if not already passed, the extreme point of saturation as regards admission of refugees, France understands the new effort proposed by President Roosevelt. Not only will she not refuse to help in realizing this fresh effort or to take this further step forward, but she will give maturely considered assistance to the Intergovernmental Committee at Evian.
Like America, France considers the refugee problem to be an international political problem, which can only be finally solved by the joint and collective action of the Governments of the world. In regard more particularly to German and Austrian refugees, France is prepared to discuss how their emigration can best be controlled and their settlement effected. There are various territorial, shipping, financial, monetary and social measures which will first have to be closely and carefully considered in executive sub-committee. That, it seems to me, should be the real object of our meeting here.
We are not an international conference ; we are an Intergovernmental Committee. We are not a forum for eloquent speeches ; we are a centre for the co-ordinated work of practical experts.
We pay a tribute of respect to the work done at Geneva, which is deserving of all our admiration and sympathy, but it cannot and should not be the task of Evian to start the work of Geneva over again. There is no further need to lay down the law on the subjectóthat has been eloquently done in the Political Committee of the League of Nations. The problem is, if possible, to achieve practical results in co-operation with all the Governments, even those which are not, or are no longer, members of the League of Nations. The task will be difficult, thankless and precarious. But it will be useful work, work which will do honour to the American Government. I wish here, on behalf of the French Government, to signify its fullest agreement, in principle, with that task, and its thorough determination to secure its realization, always bearing in mind my country's possibilities and the fact that she has already almost exhausted her own resources, which unfortunately are not so boundless as her zeal to serve the cause of humanity.
To what do the Americas and Australia owe their expansion during the last three centuries if not to the constant influx of European emigrants, refugees and exiles who brought to the New World the precious leaven of the Old. It is, therefore, part of the logic of world history that to-day, by a kind of reversion of the century-old trend, the initiative and the resources of the new worlds are offered to these fresh swarms of refugees who are being ejected by new revolutions from their old homes. Let us be grateful to the President of the United States, and let us hope that this generosity will regenerate still more effectively the civilization of the centuries still to come.
M. Hansson (Norway) {Translation'].óBefore making a short statement on behalf of the Norwegian delegation, I should like, as President of the Nansen Office, to pay attribute, not only to our Chairman, but also to his country for the indefatigable way in which it helps the cause of refugees. I shall always recall one occasion on which I ventured, at a very early hour, to disturb M. Berenger on a question of very great importance. It was a question of the 1923 Convention, which at that time had not been ratified by France, and we attached the greatest importance to its ratification. After a long conversation, M. Berenger was good enough to make a promise which, needless to say, he kept, and very soon afterwards France ratified the Convention with consequences which were highly beneficial, though this was only realized by those actually engaged in the work. I must say that France, in general, follows a liberal policy which might well be imitated by all other countries. It is part of my duty not to be always in full agreement with the French authorities, but it must be admitted that France has shown unexampled generosity. I stress this point here, because recent legislation in France further improves the situation of refugees. By the Decree-Law of May 2nd and the Circular of May 28th, France has put an end once and for all to the possibility of resorting to expulsion, which is always the refugees' greatest dread and the scourge of our time.
On behalf of the Norwegian Government, I desire to support generally what has been said by the speakers who have preceded me. The Norwegian Government, needless to say, faithful to the tradition created by its great son Dr. Nansen, welcomes the United States initiative. I do not desire to repeat what has already been said. I would merely point out that the Norwegian Government feels a certain hesitation about creating an international organization that might diminish the importance of existing organizations or of that single organization which is to be set up by the League of Nations in future, or that might relieve the League of Nations of any part, however slight, of its obligations to deal with the problem of refugees. The Norwegian Government, however, would be specially glad if in some form or other our common wish could be realisedóviz., to see the Government of the United States, and the private American organisations for assistance to refugees, intimately connected with the work that is being done on behalf of German refugees. It could be anticipated that an organisation with the authority of the United States Government behind it might establish effective contact with the Government of the German Reich with a view to settling concrete questions regarding emigration from Germany and the settlement of emigrants in other countries. In this connection, the right of German refugees to take with them a reasonable proportion of their capital should essentially be taken into consideration.
4. Programme of Work.
-
The Chairman [Translation].óThe Credentials Committee will meet to-morrow morning at 10.30. In the afternoon, there will be a plenary session of the Committee, in the course of which further general declarations will be heard. In addition, the Committee must envisage the possibility of hearing the claims of the private associations which have spontaneously come to Evian. In this connection, a sub-committee could later be set up for the purpose of keeping in touch with these associations and of submitting a report to the Committee.
I now wish to speak to the journalists who are present in such great numbers. I am sure they will all understand the delicate role of the Bureau of the Committee, and I am convinced that they will all accord their collaboration by keeping in touch with the Secretary-General, M. Jean Paul-Boncour, who will be able to give them all useful information. I do not think I need insist on the injury that might be done to the cause which the Committee has at heart if ill-considered reports were to be circulated. It must not be forgotten that there are two parties : those who wish to assist refugees and those who want to expel them. It is possible that some kinds of reports might lead to new persecutions or, at all events, might make it more difficult to solve the problem.
Before declaring the meeting closed, I propose that we send a message of homage to the President of the United States.
The proposal was adopted.
The meeting adjourned.