DELEGATE EXPLAINS WHY U.S. DID NOT RATIFY PACT ON REFUGEES
The United States had not ratified the convention relating to the status of refugees because rights of refugees in the U.S. “go far beyond” the rights accorded under that convention, Walter Kotschnig, member of the American delegation at the United Nations, declared here today,
He spoke at a session of the social committee of the UN Economic and Social Council which began discussion on a draft protocol on the status of stateless persons which would apply certain provisions of the convention relating to the status of refugees to those persons who are stateless without being refugees.
The American delegation, Mr. Kotschnig said, not wishing to stand in the way of arrangements between other governments, would abstain in the vote on all proposals on this issue. He added that stateless persons were treated in the United States as any other aliens and could be naturalized under the same conditions.
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