Telegram outlining plans for a private fact-finding mission led by Joan Baez, including Bayard Rustin, Elie Wiesel, and others, to visit refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore in October 1979. The group aimed to document human rights conditions among Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian refugees to raise international awareness. Public disclosure of the mission was to be delayed until an official announcement by Baez on behalf of Humanitas/International Human Rights Committee.
This fact-finding trip took place during a major humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia following conflicts and regime changes in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Rustin’s participation highlights his expanding role in global human rights advocacy beyond U.S. civil rights issues. The mission sought to generate international pressure to improve refugee conditions and mobilize support for displaced populations resulting from regional conflicts.
U.S. Department of State, “Telegram: Bayard Rustin and Coalition Delegation Prepare Refugee Camps Fact-Finding Trip in Southeast Asia,” September 19, 1979, National Archives, accessed September 26, 2025, https://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=310451&dt=2776&dl=2169.
