[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 20, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1359]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WORLD REFUGEE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSEPH R. PITTS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 20, 2007

  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, today is World Refugee Day, a day of 
honoring the courage and raising the plight of more than 8 million 
refugees and 23.7 million internally displaced persons around the 
world. This year, on the sixth anniversary of the United Nations-
designated World Refugee Day, organizations in hundreds of countries 
will come together to focus global attention on those refugees who have 
been displaced by natural disasters or were forced to leave their 
homes, native countries, and loved ones due to the political, ethnic or 
religious oppression and persecution they would have faced otherwise.
  The United States historically has led efforts to assist various 
refugee populations, as exemplified through U.S. efforts to assist 
Vietnamese refugees in the late 1970s. Now, in the 21st century, the 
U.S. has a particularly compelling reason to focus on the Iraqi refugee 
crisis. Approximately 2 million Iraqi refugees have fled persecution, 
violence, threats of kidnapping and death threats, mostly moving to 
Syria and Jordan. The threats have been dire for ethnic and religious 
minorities. At least 1.9 million people are displaced within Iraq. Many 
of these 3.9 million have been targeted due to their work for the U.S. 
Government, NGOs or the media.
  There have been important steps taken in Congress to address the 
concerns of refugees related to Afghanistan and Iraq, such as 
encouraging the provision of special immigrant status for translators 
or interpreters serving with Federal agencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. 
However, since 2003, the U.S. Government has allowed only 466 Iraqi 
refugees to enter the U.S. It is important that the U.S. initiate more 
active measures to assist these refugees, such as increasing the number 
of Iraqis that are brought into the resettlement program. During a 
recent trip to the Middle East, I heard stories of Iraqi refugees and 
the dire threats that forced them to flee their homeland.
  Madam Speaker, in addition to spotlighting the situation of Iraqi 
refugees, it is vital that the international community continue to 
shine a spotlight on the situation facing refugees from and displaced 
persons in Burma. The military dictatorship continues its campaign 
against the ethnic peoples through forced labor, the use of rape as a 
weapon of terror, destruction of food sources, destruction of over 
3,000 villages in the last few years, and the use of ethnic peoples as 
human land mine sweepers. Unfortunately, certain countries believe it 
is in their interest to keep this regime in power--I would heartily 
disagree. The refugee and displacement crisis in Burma could be 
resolved immediately if the regime were to step down and allow the 
rightfully elected leaders of Burma to take office.
  World Refugee Day is a day for the international community, 
governments and citizens alike, to show our common concern for refugees 
and displaced persons. Most people in the world would love to stay in 
their homeland, but frequently conflicts and other situations force 
them to leave. Our country was founded by people fleeing oppression. 
The U.S. must continue to be the global leader in refugee protection in 
the Middle East, in Southeast Asia, and around the world.

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