The Anglo-American conference on refugee problems, which opened here on April 19, is expected to close tomorrow. A joint statement on the results of the conference will be issued to the press tomorrow at noon, while the final report of the parley will be forwarded to the United States and British Governments.
An enlarged Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees will be one of the results of the conference, it was understood today. The Committee, which was formed at Evian, France, in 1938, with the participation of 31 governments, will now include Spain, Portugal and Turkey, among others. The executive committee of the group will be broadened and paid administrators will be employed. The committee will then, it is understood, be entrusted with the task of putting into effect whatever concrete proposals for the aid of refugees the Anglo-American conference has recommended. It is believed that the committee will begin operating at an early date.
The addition of Spain, Portugal, and Turkey to the Intergovernmental body, it was stated here, will help materially in speeding execution of the rescue plan, details of which, however, will not be divulged for some time on the theory that premature disclosure might enable the Germans to put obstacles in the way of its fulfillment. Financing of the plan, it was understood, will be left to the Intergovernmental Committee, but the implication here is that the money will be forthcoming to enable effective execution of whatever measures are necessary to carry out this plan.
Ethiopia, it was learned, has been rejected by the conference as a refugee haven, while Libya and French North Africa are still held out as possibilities requiring further exploration. Military authorities have not definitely said no to North Africa, but the final decision, it is pointed out, rests with General Eisenhower, and is dependent on the military turn of events. Similar considerations apply to Libya.
The American delegation was assisted throughout the deliberations by R. Borden Reams, refugee expert, and Julian Foster, shipping expert, of the State Department. George Backer, American Jewish leader, and George Warren, executive secretary of the President’s Advisory Committee on Refugees, were also consulted by the American delegation on various problems.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
