WASHINGTON --- Hollywood star Richard Gere urged Congress to increase U.S. aid for Tibetan refugees and to explore the idea of negotiating with China safe corridors for their passage to Nepal and India.

Gere, co-chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, Tuesday told the House International Operations and Human Rights subcommittee the refugee transit camp outside Kathmandu, Nepal was especially in need of a well-equipped medical clinic.

"As the U.S. government is flush right now, we can do much more,'' Gere told the International Relations panel.

"Human rights abuses, intensified control, cultural assimilation, and resource exploitation have fundamentally changed the Tibetan way of life. In order to survive, Tibetans flee,'' Gere said.

The hearing on the State Department's refugee aid programs was remarkable for its serious tone and the absence of Hollywood hoopla that usually surrounds appearances by major box-office stars.

Based on the decline in refugees worldwide, the State Department has not asked Congress for an increase in refugee assistance next year but again seeks $650 million as in 1998.

This will be supplemented by an additional $20 million to be put into an existing fund of $120 million used for emergencies. The money is used to help refugees in foreign countries and to aid those who might be admitted to live in the United States.

Citing the return by several countries of refugees from Cuba, China and Vietnam, panel chairman Rep. Christopher Smith objected to increased emphasis on repatriation by the Clinton administration. Both the refugees repatriated and thousands of others have been harmed, he added.

"It greatly reduced the moral authority which the United States was once able to exercise in persuading other countries not to force people back to danger,'' the New Jersey Republican said.

Rep. Donald Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, suggested that the United States and the United Nations might be able to set up a corridor to allow refugees to travel more easily to Nepal and India without fear of detection by Chinese authorities.

Since China began its controversial control of Tibet 40 years ago, about 100,000 refugees have fled to India and many thousands went to Nepal. Each year, about 3,000 more make the perilous journey across the Himalayan mountains to Nepal and many die en route or arrive with frostbite and other injuries that need medical attention, Gere said.

Gere said he visited Tibetan camps in Nepal in December, but Chinese officials have denied his requests for a visa to enter Tibet 25 times in the last four years.

"Like other refugees, Tibetans face untold horrors and dangers,'' he said.

Assistant Secretary of State Julia Taft told the panel the steady funding was possible because many refugees have been successfully repatriated to their home country. The number of people displaced by war, famine and other strife has fallen over the last several years to 13 million worldwide from 18 million, Taft said.

The largest number of refugees admitted to the United States come from Bosnia with 25,000 expected this year.

Taft also urged Congress to pass legislation extending permission for admission into the United States of unmarried adult children of the Montagnard people of Vietnam.

© Reuters Ltd.