Displaced persons in Europe must not be allowed to remain in the camps and must be resettled in permanent homes as soon as possible, Jacob Blaustein, chairman of the executive of the American Jewish Committee and head of the Committee’s delegation to the Peace Conference, declared here today upon his return from Paris.
Mr. Blaustein, who toured the DP camps and conferred with Army and UNRRA authorities in Europe, also emphasized that the proposals for inclusion of clauses guaranteeing human rights in peace treaties, submitted jointly by leading Jewish organizations to the Peace Conference, constitute the basic conditions for the future peace and security of the Jewish population in the former enemy states. These conditions, he stressed, are fundamentally necessary for international peace and order.
Pointing out that the Jews of Rumania, Hungary, Italy and Bulgaria now constitute more than half of the entire Jewish population of the European continent outside the U.S.S.R., and that they were among the greatest sufferers of Nazi persecution, Mr. Blaustein declared that what is asked for these Jews is not privilege, but the elementary right to live on a basis of equality with all other citizens.
While welcoming the clauses in the original drafts of the treaties which stated the obligation to secure respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, Mr. Blaustein asserted that these clauses lack provisions for the supervision and enforcement of basic rights.
“In the light of past history and in view of the deep-rooted prejudices against minorities, including Jews, which pervade parts of the population in some of these countries,” Mr. Blaustein stated, “it is of paramount importance that a solution be adopted on an international plane. This fact was stressed to the heads of various government delegations with whom conferences were held in Paris. It was gratifying to note a sympathetic approach to this concept.”
Returning with Mr. Blaustein was Judge Phillip Forman of the U. S. District Court in Trenton, N. J., member of the American Jewish Committee’s delegation to the Conference and of its foreign affairs committee.
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