[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 82 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1286-E1289]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WORLD REFUGEE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DONALD M. PAYNE

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 20, 2005

  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on World Refugee Day, to pay 
tribute to the indomitable spirit and courage of the world's refugees 
and internally displaced persons (IDP's), as well as the brave people 
who help them rebuild their lives. I recognize the generosity of the 
United States and its assistance to refugees. However, the next year 
promises to be a unique opportunity for the return of refugees, and in 
order to seize this opportunity, we must increase our investment in 
long-term development to make refugee returns durable. I also urge the 
Bush Administration government to do more to protect current refugees, 
resolve the conflicts that produce refugees, and prevent future refugee 
crises.
  Among the most vulnerable groups of people in the world are those who 
are displaced, whether as a result of conflict, persecution or other 
human rights violations. Often losing everything but hope, refugees and 
IDP's are among the great survivors of our time. Initially, the fear 
that refugees and IDP's must overcome may be the immediate one of 
trying to escape the horrors of war and persecution, the pain of losing 
homes and loved ones, and the ordeal of flight. Refugees and IDP's 
deserve our respect--not just for enduring the dangers and violence of 
the crises that made them refugees--but also for the courage they show 
in rebuilding their lives and contributing to society in difficult or, 
unfamiliar circumstances. Albert Einstein, Victor Hugo, Congressman Tom 
Lantos, Thabo Mbeki, Marlene Dietrich, and Paul Rusesabagina (of Hotel 
Rwanda fame) were all refugees whose phenomenal achievements earned the 
world's respect. Today's refugees are also heroes and deserve no less 
than our respect.
  But giving our respect to refugees and IDP's--truly honoring their 
courage--requires much more than flattering rhetoric and pledges of 
solidarity. It requires us to look back at what the world has done well 
to assist refugees and IDP's. It also requires us to deepen our 
understanding of the perils and fears they continue to face. In 
addition, if we truly want to celebrate their courage, it means we must 
focus our attention on what still needs to be done to help them.
  People have fled persecution from the moment in history when they 
began forming communities. The tradition of offering asylum began at 
almost the same time. And when nations began to develop an 
international conscience in the early 20th century, efforts to help 
refugees also spread across the globe. In 1921, Fridtjof Nansen was 
appointed as the first refugee High Commissioner of the League of 
Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations. The United Nations High 
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) began as a small organization, with a 
three-year mandate to help resettle millions of European refugees who 
were still homeless in the aftermath of the Second World War. Since 
that time, the organization has continually expanded to meet the 
growing needs of refugees and other displaced people. In more than five 
decades, the agency has helped an estimated 50 million people restart 
their lives. Today, a staff of more than 6,000 people in more than 100 
countries continues to help some 17 million persons in every corner of 
the world. Today I commend the outstanding, tireless work of the UNHCR. 
However, as a former high commissioner said, the fact that the world 
still finds a need for the UNHCR should serve as a sobering reminder of 
the international community's continuing failure to prevent prejudice, 
persecution, poverty and other root causes of conflict and 
displacement.

[[Page E1287]]

  In our tribute to the world's refugees, it is important not to forget 
the internally displaced persons, or IDP's. Last week, during his first 
few days as the 10th U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio 
Guterres reminded the world that millions of internally displaced 
people are not currently being cared for. The internal displacement 
problem is one of the biggest neglected humanitarian problems that we 
face. The abstract term ``internal displacement,'' created to 
distinguish IDP's from refugees, fails to convey the immense human 
suffering most internally displaced people are forced to undergo. The 
act of displacement itself often is accompanied by violence and the 
most serious human rights violations such as killings, torture, 
kidnappings and rape. IDP's are a very vulnerable category and most of 
them receive less assistance than refugees in camps. Whereas refugees 
have managed to cross borders to escape persecution, the internally 
displaced, for various reasons, are stuck within the same borders 
between which forces of violence and persecution continue to hunt them.
  The number of people ``of concern'' to UNHCR, including IDP's, grew 
last year by over 2 million to 19.2 million. The increase was mainly 
the result of a rise in the numbers of internally displaced people and 
stateless persons to 7.6 million--up from 5.3 million at the end of 
2003. Of the world's approximately 25 million IDP's, 13 million are in 
Africa. Sudan has the largest IDP population in the word, with between 
5 and 6 million displaced persons. Sudan also is the country with the 
largest number of newly displaced persons in 2004 (about 1 million, 
mostly in Darfur, where a total of 2 million IDP's survive on a day-to-
day basis). Sudan is followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
with 2.3 million IDP's. In Colombia, Afro-Colombians continue to be 
caught in the crossfire between government troops and rebels. Afro-
Colombians represent a disproportionate level of the country's IDP 
population of more than 2 million, which represents the world's third 
largest IDP population. Iraq and northern Uganda each have around 2 
million IDP's.
  Despite the scale of the worldwide internal displacement crisis, its 
destabilizing effects on regional security, and the vulnerabilities of 
many internally displaced populations, the U.S. and other members of 
the international community have been slow in addressing the issue. 
Refugees, usually far more visible, continue to receive a great deal 
more international attention, although their number is only about half 
that of IDP's. The IDP problem is a humanitarian challenge, as well as 
a challenge to peace-building and post-conflict recovery. For example, 
it will be extremely difficult to rebuild Sudan with millions of 
persons uprooted and on the move. As we see in the massive displacement 
crises of Colombia and Somalia, the U.S. and the rest of the 
international community are far from being capable of effectively 
responding to or preventing such emergencies. Due to the chronic under-
funding of aid agencies by donor governments, the IDP problem will not 
likely see progress towards a solution any time soon. Unless we change 
this shameful status quo.

  Today, I call on the Bush administration to take three specific steps 
to help the internally displaced. First, I call on the Bush 
administration to actively pressure countries that are using the global 
``war on terror'' to justify brutal repression and the displacement of 
millions. In 2004, several governments continued or intensified anti-
rebel military campaigns labeled ``counter-terrorist'' operations, 
which resulted in new internal displacements and prevented return, 
including in Chechnya (Russian Federation), Aceh (Indonesia), Colombia, 
northern Uganda and Nepal. Second, I call on the Bush administration to 
reexamine the effectiveness of U.S. bureaucratic structures that are 
intended to assist IDP's. Currently, the responsibility for assisting 
IDP's is shared between the State Department's Bureau of Population, 
Refugees and Migration and the U.S. Agency for International 
Development; however, this responsibility is poorly defined, suffers 
from lack of coherence, and is vulnerable to bureaucratic turf battles. 
Regarding IDP's, the relationship between PRM and USAID must be better 
defined in order to facilitate the creation of a more effective system 
to monitor and assist the internally displaced.
  Finally, I call upon the Bush administration to set up a fund 
specifically intended to assist IDP's. IDP's continue to fall through 
the cracks in our handling of crises. Establishing such a fund--to be 
administered by the appropriate government agency--would serve as a 
first step toward not treating IDP's as an afterthought. It would also 
serve as a model to the international community that would facilitate 
an improvement in how we address the sad phenomenon of internal 
displacement. In summary, let us not neglect IDP's, for their struggle 
is often just as dangerous as that of refugees, and their courage also 
merits a tribute today, a tribute that translates to humanitarian 
action.
  Today, the worldwide suffering of uprooted peoples continues. There 
are currently nearly 20 million refugees and other persons of concern 
to the UNHCR, the majority of whom are women and children. Afghans 
remain by far the biggest refugee group in the world at 2.1 million. In 
Sudan, the increase in refugees in 2004 accounted for the largest 
increase in the world. Sudan produced 125,000 new refugees, mostly 
people fleeing genocide in the Darfur region to neighboring Chad. The 
total number of Sudanese refugees world-wide rose to 731,000 in 2004, 
from 606,000 in 2003, an increase of 20 percent.
  Recent trends give some room for guarded optimism. On June 17, the 
UNHCR reported that the global number of refugees fell 4 percent in 
2004 to 9.2 million, the lowest total in almost a quarter of a century. 
Repatriations are also up. In 2004, a total of 1.5 million refugees 
repatriated voluntarily, an increase of some 400,000 over the previous 
year. The 2004 returns include 940,000 refugees who went back to 
Afghanistan and 194,000 who returned to Iraq. In addition, over the 
past few years, successful repatriation operations in Africa and the 
countries of former Yugoslavia have reduced significantly the number of 
people of concern to the UNHCR. In Burma, recent developments are 
providing a basis on which to plan for the eventual return of refugees 
in Thailand. Across the globe, resettlement continues expanding through 
the practice of group resettlement. The UNHCR, with support from the 
U.S., has succeeded in helping several million people begin new lives.
  Despite the good news, though, numerous serious challenges remain. In 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the numbers of refugees increased 
by 2.4 percent, pushing the total number of Congolese refugees up to 
462,000. In Northern Uganda the murderous Lord's Resistance Army 
continues to abduct thousands for use as soldiers and sex slaves. In 
Burundi, under pressure from Rwanda, the Burundi government recently 
announced that 10,000 Rwandan asylum seekers who had fled Rwanda since 
the beginning of April in fear of persecution over the 1994 genocide 
would not be granted asylum, despite not having been screened to see if 
they met the definition of a refugee. Already, at least 5,000 of the 
refugees have been returned to Rwanda, and because the UN was not 
granted access to the refugees, many fear they were forced to return. 
In Afghanistan, there is a need for more comprehensive solutions for 
Afghans still outside their country, and dialogue between the UNHCR and 
relevant governments and other stakeholders in the Afghanistan 
situation must continue. In addition, although a peace deal in January 
officially ended Sudan's north-south conflict, at least 7,500 people 
had fled into Uganda this year, and refugees and IDP's say that food 
distribution had stopped in camps inside Sudan.
  Because of its long history of displacement, and since Africa Refugee 
Day corresponds with World Refugee Day in many countries, Africa merits 
special attention in this examination of refugees and IDP's. Africa 
hosts approximately 3 million refugees, about 30 percent of the world's 
total. Africa also hosts 13 million IDP's, or more than half of the 
world's total IDP population. In Africa today, return and reintegration 
opportunities abound if we can get the politics of peace right. There 
are an unprecedented number of repatriation and reintegration 
operations currently underway--particularly in Burundi, Liberia, 
Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, and 
Somalia. In 2004, refugees from Liberia (100,000), Burundi (90,000), 
Angola (64,000), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (30,000) 
returned to their countries in large numbers and the UNHCR started a 
program intended to help an additional 340,000 Liberians repatriate. In 
March 2004, the UNHCR took an important step to act on the improved 
prospects for the return home of millions of long-time refugees in 
Africa. The UNHCR launched its Dialogue on Voluntary Repatriation and 
Substainable Reintegration in Africa. The Africa Dialogue calls on the 
international community to seize this unique opportunity for the return 
of up to 2 million refugees and several million displaced persons 
across the continent, and it stresses the need to invest in long-term 
development to make returns durable. Today, the Africa Dialogue 
continues to make progress; however, considerable challenges still lie 
ahead. Returns must be matched by post-conflict reconstruction and 
reintegration in order to break the cycle of violence and make 
repatriation sustainable. The populations of Burundi, the Democratic 
Republic of the Congo and Somalia all await the outcome of political 
negotiations, and the U.S. and the UNHCR must lend their support to 
these peace efforts while assisting the victims of conflict.

  Of great concern, the genocide being perpetuated by the government of 
Sudan in that country's Darfur region has forced approximately 2 
million Darfurians to become internally displaced. In addition, more 
than 200,000 Sudanese have fled Darfur and are now living in camps in 
neighboring Chad. For the

[[Page E1288]]

UNHCR mission in eastern Chad, where 300 UNHCR staff assist a total of 
213,000 refugees in 12 camps, the U.S. has given $18 million in 2005, 
or half of all donors' contributions. However, the UNHCR still lacks 
about $40 million to cover the 2005 needs-based budget.
  Across the border from the camps in eastern Chad, the situation in 
Darfur is more dire. In Darfur, the mismatch between humanitarian 
capacity and human need grows more deadly by the day. The UNHCR Darfur 
mission has a total of 25 staff. The U.S. has provided no money for 
UNHCR operations in Darfur in 2005, although half the year has already 
passed. There is now a disgraceful $30 million shortfall from what the 
UNHCR needs in Darfur for 2005. The lack of security is still a 
tremendous problem, partly due to an increase in small arms 
trafficking. Government-recruited and armed Arab militias, also known 
as Janjaweed, continue to target civilians, and in April, rape, 
kidnapping, and banditry increased. Aid workers are still at great risk 
of being targeted. Due to the conflict and failed harvests, the food 
situation is serious. More than 3.5 million IDP's are in critical need 
of food and are running dangerously short of water. The World Food 
Program does not have what it needs to feed persons of concern past 
July. Local Sudanese officials are pressuring some IDP's to return to 
their villages, despite the constant threat of government-supported 
Janjaweed militias and other armed groups. Although the presence of the 
AU force in Darfur promises some protection, it will never be 
sufficient.
  A country of concern that is often forgotten is Western Sahara, a 
swath of land in West Africa that lies along the Atlantic Ocean. In 
camps in Algeria, about 165,000 refugees from Western Sahara, a country 
that has been occupied illegally by Morocco since 1975, continue to 
live in ``deplorable conditions,'' according to a recent report from UN 
Secretary General Kofi Annan. The government of Morocco has promised 
the people of Western Sahara, the Sahrawi, a vote to determine their 
own future. However, more than a decade later, that vote has yet to 
occur, and Morocco continues to disregard international law. No 
progress has been made in UN efforts to find a solution to the dispute 
between Morocco and the Sahrawis. The U.S. must put pressure on 
Morocco, not only to end the exile and suffering of Sahrawi refugees, 
but also to allow a free, fair and transparent referendum to determine 
the country's future and prevent the creation of more refugees.
  Another source of concern is Tanzania. A generous host of refugees 
over the last 30 years, Tanzania continues to host Africa's largest 
number of refugees. However, recently, a troubling policy shift seems 
to have emerged, reflecting an increasingly harsh stance towards 
refugees. Local and national politicians are feeling increasing 
pressure from their constituencies due to the perception that refugees 
receive more attention and assistance than local communities and have 
in some cases publicly blamed them for crime and the spread of disease. 
In 2004, the government frequently did not provide protection against 
refoulement, the return of persons to a country where they feared 
persecution; on a number of occasions, the government refouled refugees 
and refused persons seeking asylum or refugee status. In addition, the 
government at times did not cooperate with the UNHCR during 2004. 
Although repatriations of Burundian refugees living in Tanzania 
continues, the U.S. and the international community must engage 
Tanzania regularly to ensure that the country does not turn its back on 
those in need, and on decades of humanitarian tradition. At the least, 
we must listen to Tanzania's concerns and explore options to provide 
more support to what has traditionally been the most hospitable country 
in Africa for refugees.
  The best solution for refugees is voluntary repatriation, or going 
back to one's original homeland once all the key conditions are in 
place. However, for some people who fled their homes amid conflict and 
widespread human rights abuses, returning is still a distant prospect. 
For this reason, finding creative solutions for meeting the needs of 
refugees and the local populations that host them is critical. One 
example is the Zambian Initiative, a government-led ``Development 
through Local Integration Project'' established in 2002. The Zambian 
Initiative has promoted a holistic approach in addressing the needs of 
refugees and Zambians living in refugee hosting areas in the Western 
Province of Zambia. By facilitating cooperation between the host 
communities and the refugees, the UNHCR and the Zambian government have 
enabled the production of food and housing, thus alleviating the 
effects of a food deficit, poor infrastructure and limited access to 
services and economic opportunities. The presence of refugees can 
stretch local resources and infrastructure and exacerbate poverty. 
However, in Zambia, local development committees involve the local 
populations and refugees by identifying needs and projects in areas 
such as health and education. While voluntary repatriation of Angolan 
refugees continues, the Zambian Initiative has created a sense of 
ownership while pursuing durable solutions for refugees through local 
integration. We must commend and encourage this type of innovative 
approach to refugees and the pressure their presence can place on local 
populations. Let us use World Refugee Day to call for more such 
innovation, so that refugees will not be trapped in the same sad status 
quo.
  The donor response to the Indian Ocean tsunami in December 2004 was 
admirable and generated unprecedented world-record contributions, 
thanks in part to the dramatic nature of the tsunami, its effects on 
numerous countries, and its timing, the day after Christmas. However, 
other humanitarian catastrophes, especially the needs of refugees and 
IDP's in Africa, remain virtually ignored. As UN Humanitarian 
Coordinator Jan Egeland has pointed out, in many ways, Africa has a 
silent tsunami several times each year. If you look at the numbers in 
Sudan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, you see that the impact 
of conflict on refugees and IDP's is equivalent to a tsunami every few 
months. Today, we have an opportunity to honor the courage of refugees 
and IDP's by recognizing the magnitude of their suffering, but to do 
this we must act out of the same compassion that drove us to alleviate 
the suffering of the tsunami victims.

  The UNHCR is working hard to resolve many of the protracted 
situations around the world. But it is a labor and resource-intensive 
endeavor, requiring sustained international attention and continuing 
donor support, including support from the United States. The same is 
true of UNHCR's advocacy efforts and its work to ensure a smooth 
transition from repatriation to reintegration, rehabilitation and 
reconstruction so that refugees can go home and stay home. The results 
show that an investment in solutions is a good investment indeed.
  The U.S. has shown great hospitality and generosity in hosting and 
assisting refugees and other displaced people. In 2004, the U.S. 
welcomed 52,000 refugees from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin 
America. In absolute terms, the U.S. continues to be the leading donor 
to UNHCR and for humanitarian assistance to refugees world-wide. 
However, as a proportion of national wealth, the U.S. contribution to 
refugees and IDP's lags far behind most western countries. The 
persistent failure of donor government, including the U.S., to provide 
funding for relief efforts is the most critical flaw in the 
humanitarian aid process today. The UN Consolidated Appeal (CAP) is a 
collaborative assessment of the minimal financial commitment necessary 
to provide essential emergency assistance in humanitarian crises. 
Despite the CAP, all assistance programming is under-funded by almost 
35 percent every year, leaving tens of millions of men, women, and 
children around the world to suffer needlessly. The recurring shortfall 
in financial assistance is not the only thing hindering our response to 
the refugee and IDP crises of the world. In the last five years, global 
food aid has dropped by nearly 50 percent, despite an 8 percent 
increase in the number of chronically hungry people in the world. In 
addition, funding delays continue to jeopardize the progress of 
emergency relief for refugees and IDP's. In Somalia in recent years for 
example, nearly 50 percent of all funds received for emergency 
assistance arrived in the last quarter of the year. And currently, 
reportedly due to bureaucratic delay, the U.S. has still not 
contributed any funds to the UNHCR operation in Darfur, although we are 
already in the second half of 2005.
  The U.S. must act as a leader to address the persistent and damaging 
delays in funding for refugees and IDP's. If the U.S. wants to reform 
the UN and render the international donor community more effective, 
this is a good place to start. Therefore, I call on the Bush 
administration and other members of the international community to 
increase financial commitments to humanitarian appeals for refugees and 
IDP's. At the least, the international community should pledge to 
provide 75 percent of the aid requested in the CAP pledge in order to 
ensure that the most critical emergency relief programs remain funded.
  Many prosperous countries with strong economies complain about the 
large number of asylum seekers and refugees, but they offer little to 
prevent refugee crises. Humanitarian action is of limited value if it 
does not form part of a wider strategic and political framework aimed 
at addressing the root causes of conflict. Experience has shown time 
and time again that humanitarian action alone cannot solve problems 
which are fundamentally political in nature. Yet all too often, 
humanitarian organizations like the UNHCR have found themselves 
isolated and alone in dangerous and difficult situations (such as 
Darfur), where they have had to operate without adequate financial and 
political support. Therefore, we must invest in lasting solutions: 
conflict prevention, return, and reintegration. We must support the 
UNHCR's efforts to ensure international protection and assistance to 
refugees

[[Page E1289]]

and IDP's through a range of solutions, including improved management 
of operations. We must not demonstrate a lack of political commitment 
to solving refugee problems during the post-conflict phase, when the 
spotlight of the international media has moved away. We must more fully 
recognize the link between human displacement and international peace 
and security. History has shown that displacement is not only a 
consequence of conflicts; it can also cause conflict. Without human 
security, there can be no peace and stability. The U.S. must recognize 
the link between refugees and IDP's, on the one hand, and stability and 
the seeds of democracy on the other.

  If we are to honor the courage of refugees and IDP's today, we must 
come together with the UNHCR, nongovernmental organizations, and other 
donor governments to actively pursue durable solutions. If we fail to 
do so, refugees and IDP's will remain in their miserable conditions--
surviving on a handful of maize each day, living in immense boredom 
under windblown tents, and clinging to their hope amid memories of 
atrocities. On World Refugee Day and every other day, let us show the 
refugees and IDP's that we are with them. Having endured conflict, 
rape, abduction, trafficking, chronic hunger, squalor, and other 
unspeakable suffering, the courage of refugees and IDP's has been 
tested beyond what we can imagine. However, despite their courage, they 
remain vulnerable to the loss of hope. If we will allow them to lose 
hope, we allow them to lose courage. In our tribute to their 
indomitable courage, we must pledge never to let that happen. We must 
pledge to help them rebuild their lives today, to commit ourselves to 
long-term solutions, and to prevent the nightmare from reoccurring 
tomorrow.

                          ____________________