Statement by Monseigneur John F. McCarthy, Assistant Director Catholic Relief Services-N.C.W.C., at conference for WRY National Committees convened by the International Committee for World Refugee Year, January 12-14, 1960.
It is a great privilege to be allowed to speak for a few minutes to this distinguished group of people who are interested in alleviating the sufferings of their fellow human beings all over the world.
In this, the World Refugee Year, refugees and displaced persons living in countries of asylum in practically all parts of the Free World have been considered in greater or lesser degree. Surveys of the needs of refugees have been made, and plans to better their general living are included in the plans of the World Refugee Year Committees. Both governmental and Voluntary Agencies, in addition to countless thousands of individual voluntary groups are cooperation in a great effort to make this year--the year to end the suffering and want of thousands of refugees.
To date, a great deal has been accomplished. Great emphasis has been placed on the closing of official refugee camps on Europe, and God knows that would be a great blessing, even if it were the only thing accomplished in the World Refugee Year. However, all of us are interested in doing much more than that.
I have been asked to say a few words about refugees who come under no mandate except that of homelessness, insecurity, even hunger. There is an expression "out of sight, out of mind". That is a sad but accurate summing up of the position of many refugees in the Free World today. I want in the next few minutes to bring back to your mind several million of such refugees who live in Korea and India.
Eight or nine years ago the Free World rallied in an impressive way to answer the emergency appeal of war-stricken South Korea. Today during World Refugee Year a second international appeal is made to assist in solving the complex and overpowering problems which face this nation of uprooted people, refugees on their own soil. Let us hope that this year's appeal will call forth again for Korea a generous sharing of resources and skills by more fortunate nations and individuals around the world. Although the four million refugees from North Korea who are still in need of help have not been faced with the need to adapt to an alien culture, and although they are well-equipped by mentality and training, to infurse fresh life into the largely agricultural southern part of their country--nevertheless these positive factors must be seen in their proper perspective. None of the original total refugee population could be resettled outside of their country and so every shift within the barely subsisting conglomeration of humanity has met further economic imbalance. The population of Pusan is three times what it was before the Korean War. To use the word housing to describe the flimsy shacks occupied by the refugees would be abuse of the English language. Large sections of the refugee population have only gradually been rediscovered, as famine has driven them from the coastal islands where nearly 150,000 had been fighting a losing battle with hunger since the end of the war. The Han River delta, adjacent to Seoul, is a confusion of squatters whose lot is aggravated by the regular floods, Nevertheless, those unfortunates claim that to live thus is preferable to their previous conditions in South-West Korea, where their few industries were completely ruined by the war and Communist guerrilla activities after the war.
That is the dark side of the picture. The bright side is provided by the untiring efforts of 57 welfare groups, whose work is coordinate through the Korea Association of Voluntary Agencies founded in 1954. Associated with the Government and with the Voluntary Agencies is the United States Official Agency in Korea, the office of the Economic coordinator. Drainage and cultivation of marginal strips along the rivers and coasts are under way. The refugees provide the labor, the materials for housing are given by the office of the Economic Coordinator, and the Government and the Voluntary Agencies supervise the distribution of U.S. contributed foods among the workers and their families. Over 1,600 current reclamation projects which are helping the refugees.
Great patience and the ability to think in long-range terms will be necessary for all who would assist the Korean people in vitally needed social and economic programs.
Since the idea of credit or saving is almost non-existent in Korea, there is basic need for education on cooperative action to help fiance local industries. The following projects are examples of help given to refugees to help themselves:
A) Revolving fund for business loans
B) Cooperative women's shop in Pusan
C) Cooperative work projects in farming, fishing and sewing.
Great as is the need for bare subsistence in Korea today, the Koreans are a people who believe men do not live by bread- or even rice- alone. They possess a passionate belief in the power of education.
The task is too great for the resources now available. Outside help is needed to provide additional sources of income, such as animals, workshops for training in home trades, and community centers for the teaching of improved farming techniques. The office of Economic Coordination gives generously, but the help of other countries is required. Large-scale public works projects must be initiated for land conservation, reforestation, flood control and road building, 400,000 families could benefit from such development, which would give work to 1000,000 men. Most needed are schools for trades and technical skills. Though children are well looked after in orphanages by a variety of church and lay groups, unless plans are made and carried out now, these children will be faced with the same animless, miserable existence as their elders, when they reach working age.
I hope that I have brought back to your mind the problems fo the Korean refugees. Let us all, during the world Refugee Year, show that our will to help the stricken Koreans in the days when the country was ravaged by war was not a temporary determination. Let us help them to renew their faith in the Free World before it is too late.