—­The Organization of American States, in its annual General Assembly, approved a resolution in support of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission’s work.  The resolution took note of the Commission’s annual report, which described the status of human rights in Chile, El Salvador, Paraguay and Uruguay; and the special reports on Argentina and Haiti, which described human rights conditions as investigated during on-site inspections to these countries.

—­The awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace to Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina for his non-violent advocacy of human rights.

—­The United States was able to rejoin the International Labor Organization after an absence of two years, as that U.N. body reformed its procedures to return to its original purpose of strengthening employer-employee-government relations to insure human rights for the working people of the world.

The United States, of course, cannot take credit for all these various developments.  But we can take satisfaction in knowing that our policies encourage and perhaps influence them.

Those who see a contradiction between our security and our humanitarian interests forget that the basis for a secure and stable society is the bond of trust between a government and its people.  I profoundly believe that the future of our world is not to be found in authoritarianism:  that wears the mask of order, or totalitarianism that wears the mask of justice.  Instead, let us find our future in the human face of democracy, the human voice of individual liberty, the human hand of economic development.

HUMANITARIAN AID

The United States has continued to play its traditional role of safehaven for those who flee or are forced to flee their homes because of persecution or war.  During 1980, the United States provided resettlement opportunities for 216,000 refugees from countries around the globe.  In addition, the United States joined with other nations to provide relief to refugees in country of first asylum in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The great majority of refugee admissions continued to be from Indo-china.  During 1980, 168,000 Indo-chinese were resettled in the United States.  Although refugee populations persist in camps in Southeast Asia, and refugees continue to flee Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea, the flow is not as great as in the past.  One factor in reducing the flow from Vietnam has been the successful negotiation and commencement of an Orderly Departure Program which permits us to process Vietnamese for resettlement in the United States with direct departure from Ho Chi Minh Ville in an orderly fashion.  The first group of 250 departed Vietnam for the United States in December, 1980.

In addition to the refugees admitted last year, the United States accepted for entry into the United States 125,000 Cubans who were expelled by Fidel Castro.  Federal and state authorities, as well as private voluntary agencies, responded with unprecedented vigor to coping with the unexpected influx of Cubans.