[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 39 (Monday, October 2, 2000)]
[Page 2213]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Deaths of United Nations Refugee Workers in Indonesia 
and in Guinea

September 25, 2000

    I join all Americans in mourning the recent deaths of United Nations 
refugee workers in Indonesia and in Guinea.
    On September 6 in West Timor, three staff members of the office of 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees were brutally murdered 
by a rampaging local militia. One of those killed was an American, 
Carlos Caceres-Collazo, who was still new to the cause of helping 
refugees and displaced persons, but already dedicated to it, even in 
conditions of great danger and hardship.
    Two weeks later, in the West African country of Guinea, another 
UNHCR staff member was killed, and a colleague abducted, by an 
unidentified armed group. I extend my condolences to their families and 
to UNHCR, which has been shocked by these tragedies. We hope that the 
abducted employee will be returned to safety.
    These international civil servants were willing to take enormous 
risks and endure great hardship to protect and assist the most 
vulnerable refugees, displaced and war-affected people. Humanitarian 
workers operate on the principles of neutrality and impartiality, and it 
is tragic that they so frequently become the victims of willful violence 
themselves. We must work to end the culture of impunity that allows such 
violence to flourish and dedicate ourselves to strengthening the 
protection of those whose mission is to help their fellow human beings.