[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17120]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      WORLD REFUGEE DAY: ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF AFRICAN REFUGEES

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 22, 2007

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, two days ago, on June 20th, 
the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health held a hearing on the 
occasion of World Refugee Day. This day was designated by the United 
Nations General Assembly in 2001 to be commemorated each year in order 
to honor the contributions of refugees around the world and to call 
attention to the plight of those who continue to suffer as refugees. 
This day also coincides with Africa Refugee Day, which has been 
commemorated since 1975 and was established by the Organization of 
African Unity Commission of Ten on Refugees as a way
to raise funds for assistance for refugees in Africa.
  It is shocking to consider that 12 million people in the world are 
refugees today, and almost a quarter of those, 3.2 million, live in 
Africa. In addition, Africa has an estimated 12 million Internally 
Displaced Persons, most of whom are victims of conflicts within their 
countries. Floods and droughts have also contributed to the dislocation 
of large numbers of African people. More than half of the world's 
refugees have lived in camps for several years, with no foreseeable 
prospects for returning to their homes and a normal lifestyle.
  No one can measure the suffering that often comes with being a 
refugee--being a stranger in a strange land, the inability of children 
to attend school, the frustration of parents unable to provide the 
basic necessities for their families, the hardships and fears that come 
with living in a tent, or having no shelter at all. One might forget 
that refugees often also are suffering the emotional trauma that 
results from violence inherent in the conflicts that produce refugees.
  For that reason, it was particularly useful to hear the testimony of 
Neal Porter, the Director of International Services from the Center for 
Victims of Torture. Legislation that I have sponsored, including the 
Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2007 which passed the 
House on April 25, 2007 and is now pending in the Senate, provides 
authorization for programming that helps refugees and others suffering 
the effects of torture. I would encourage my colleagues in the Senate 
to act on this bill so that the Center for Victims of Torture and 
others who provide services to torture survivors can receive the 
assistance they so desperately need.
  The international community accomplished a major milestone when it 
recognized refugees as having certain rights under international law in 
the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 
1967 Protocol. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees plays 
a major role in ensuring that the promised resources and protection are 
provided. However, as laudable as international recognition and 
assistance are for assisting those forced to flee from their homes, far 
more needs to be done to prevent people from becoming refugees in the 
first place, and to accommodate the safe return and re-establishment of 
those already refugees or IDPs. This subcommittee hearing provided an 
important opportunity to examine what we in the United States and the 
world community can do in this respect.
  Although I and others have devoted significant attention in recent 
months and years to the tragedy in Darfur, one can never over-publicize 
the desperate situation of the victims of the Sudanese Government's 
genocide. When I think of refugees, my mind immediately recalls those 
who I met in the Mukjar and Kalma camps, only some of the 2 million who 
have been displaced from their homes in that region. The term 
``displaced'' does not begin to describe the nightmare situation that 
these people must live in. As we have heard through testimony at recent 
hearings on Darfur, these people long most of all not for food or 
shelter, though they have little of either, but for protection. And 
with good reason--over 450,000 people have died in the violence of 
Darfur.
  On the occasion of World Refugee Day, we could not forget those who 
voluntarily subject themselves to the same harsh conditions in order to 
care for and protect refugees and displaced persons. It was necessary 
to pay a special tribute particularly to the men and women who have 
suffered violence, many to the point of death, in their efforts to 
assist the people of Darfur. Humanitarian groups there have reported 
being harassed by the Government of Sudan and deliberately attacked by 
rebel groups. Over a dozen humanitarian workers have been killed over 
the past year. In mid-December 2006, armed groups launched a major 
attack against NGO compounds in Gereida, South Darfur. On January 19, 
2007, Sudanese Government security forces arrested and severely beat 20 
UN staff members in Nyala, South Darfur. On February 5, 2007, a 
civilian police officer with AMIS was killed in an IDP camp in the 
North.
  The men and women who risk their welfare and their very lives to care 
for these refugees truly live out the words, ``I was hungry, and you 
gave me food; thirsty and you gave me drink; a stranger, and you 
welcomed me.'' I convey to these heroic men and women my personal 
gratitude for lending their hands and hearts to some of our poorest 
brothers and sisters.

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