Australia and India have indicated that they will join the 15 nations which this week subscribed to an agreement to issue international travel documents for stateless refugees, it was learned today. Several other states have also expressed willingness to honor the documents, which will serve in lieu of passports.
The present signatories to the agreement are: United States, Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and Venezuela.
The travel permits, which will be similar to the Nansen passports issued by the League of Nations after the last war, are an improvement on the latter in that the holder may return to the country in which it was issued without a visa.
Although it is still not clear exactly which categories of refugees will be eligible for the new permits, it is thought that the bulk of the displaced persons in the western zones of Germany and Austria will be eligible, if they come within the jurisdiction of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees.
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