"Refugees," Article in The New International Year Book: Events of 1953

YEAR BOOK RED CROSS 448 REFUGEES Each month an average of over 22,000 volunteers served patients in 170 Veterans Administration hos- Italy, Trieste, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jor- dan, Gaza, Iran, and Korea. pitals. Volunteers also gave special services for To provide more effective and efficient action in patients in over 100 mental hospitals in the United case of disaster, the League Executive Committee States. Volunteer nurse's aides helped nurses in created a Study Group for Relief Problems which hundreds of hospitals throughout the country. will report to the 23rd Session of the Board of During 1953, the Red Cross issued 248,000 cer- tificates to persons trained in home nursing; 937,000 Governors of the League in Oslo in May 1954. It certificates in swimming and lifesaving; and over also decided to establish emergency relief depots 792,000 first aid certificates. During the past fiscal in Turkey and Australia; such depots already exist in Switzerland and France. year, volunteers staffed 16,365 highway first aid Courses for Home Nursing Instructors were or- stations, detachments, and mobile first aid units that gave aid to 58,200 people. ganized in Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Germany, Aus- tria, Italy, and Venezuela. Junior Red Cross inter- Junior Red Cross members took part in commu- nity service and international activities that included national summer camps were held in Germany and sending correspondence and music albums, original Belgium, where 16 nationalities were represented. Junior Red Cross Sections were created in Finland paintings, and gift boxes to children of other lands. and Ethiopia, bringing to 63 the total number of The Red Cross also helped flood victims in En- gland, the Netherlands, Belgium, India, and Japan; such Sections with a combined membership of more than 35 million. earthquake victims in Turkey, Iran, and Greece; and victims of fires in Korea. Total value of international For additional activities of the League during 1953, see PRISONERS OF WAR. disaster aid by American Red Cross during 1953 Publications: The Red Cross World (quarterly) was more than $1,404,000, including $437,500 in English, French, and Spanish; Junior Red Cross worth of aid provided by Junior Red Cross mem- bers to child victims of disasters in other lands. Newsletter (every two months) in English, French, Spanish, and German. Headquarters: 26 Avenue National officers are E. Roland Harriman, Chair- Beau-Séjour, Geneva, Switzerland. man of the Red Cross, and Ellsworth Bunker, Presi- -HENRY W. DUNNING dent. National headquarters: Washington, D.C. Area offices are in Alexandria, Va.; Atlanta, Ga.; REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA. Established as the St. Louis, Mo.; and San Francisco, Cal. Reformed Protestant Dutch Church in 1628, it em- -PAUL LAWSON braces many of the historic churches in New York League of Red Cross Societies. Founded in 1919 as the world federation of national Red Cross and Red and New Jersey. Today it has many strong churches in the Middle and Far West. There are Crescent Societies, the League of Red Cross So- 794 churches, 951 pastors, and 194,475 members. cieties includes 71 of these societies with a com- During the year 1953 there were 9,942 baptisms bined membership of more than 100 million. Its and 153,551 enroled in the Sunday Schools. The de- objects are to encourage and promote in every coun- nomination maintains 2. colleges, 1 junior college, try a national Red Cross or Red Crescent Society, and 2 seminaries with 1,61¥ students. Total contri- coordinate their activities, protect their interests, butions for the year amounted to $13,107,725. Head- and act on an international level as their represen- quarters: 156 Fifth Avez New York 10, N.Y. tative to facilitate at all times all forms of Red Cross action for the relief of suffering humanity. Towards this end, it works in close. collaboration with the REFUGEES. The International Refugee Organization, United Nations and its specialized agencies. a temporary specialized agency of the United Na- The highest authority of the League is its Board tions, completed liquidation in 1953 and allocated of Governors composed of one representative from over $5 million in residual assets to intergovern- each affiliated society which meets every two years. mental and voluntary agencies to continue efforts Between meetings of the Board, an Executive Com- to resettle and reestablish the refugees who had mittee of 18, elected by the Board and meeting been under its care. Over a million refugees had every six months, exercises authority. Present offi- been moved out of Europe by the Organization cers are: Chairman Justice Emil Sandstrom (Swe- between 1947 and 1952. Its function of providing den); Vice Chairmen, The Hon. Rajkumari Amrit legal and political protection for refugees had been Kaur (India), Dr. G. A. Bohny (Switzerland), transferred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Prince Frederic de Merode (Belgium), Mr. James T. Nicholson (United States), Prof. B. M. Pachkov The Office of the United Nations High Commis- (U.S.S.R.), Mr. Alejandro Quijano (Mexico); Gen- sioner for Refugees was established by the General eral Secretary Count Bonabes de Rouge; Under Assembly of the United Nations in December 1950 Secretary General Georges Milsom; Executive Sec- for a three year period. At the eighth session of the retary Henry W. Dunning; Treasurer General Mar- General Assembly in the fall of 1953 the Office was cel van Zeeland. continued for a period of five years, with provision for a review of the arrangements at the end of four Faced by one of the worst years in recent history for calamities caused by forces of nature in which years. Dr. G. J. van Heuven Goedhart, the Nether- more than 5,000 people died and 1 million were lands, was reelected as High Commissioner. A left homeless, international Red Cross relief coordi- budget of approximately $700,000 was voted to nated by the League was valued at approximately cover the expenses of the headquarters of the Office $35 million of which about $25 million went to vic- at Geneva during 1954 and of branch offices in the tims of the North Sea floods in February in England, chief countries of residence of the refugees. Belgium, and the Netherlands. Other floods OC- The main functions of the High Commissioner curred in Yugoslavia, Japan, Italy, India, Iran, and are to provide legal and political protection for refu- Spain. International aid was given to earthquake gees and to find permanent solutions for refugee victims in Iran, Turkey, Chile, Greece, and Cyprus; problems. The High Commissioner will also super- vise the application of the provisions of the Conven- victims of volcanic eruptions in Indonesia; fires in Rangoon, Pusan, and Hong Kong; drought and tion relating to the Status of Refugees which is famine in Brazil and India; avalanches in Austria expected to come into force in 1954. Nineteen gov- ernments have signed the Convention and five have and Switzerland; refugees in Germany, Austria, ratified: Belgium, Denmark, the Federal Republic