[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11082-11083]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         WORLD REFUGEE DAY 2010

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, this Sunday, June 20, is World Refugee Day. 
On June 20, 2001, we recognized World Refugee Day for the first time, 
in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention 
Relating to the Status of Refugees.
  At the end of the last century, war and ethnic cleansing in the 
former Yugoslavia left many people without a home or the protection of 
their country of origin. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the 
subsequent wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo forced refugees to 
flee to Tanzania and other neighboring states. As of last fall, over 
300,000 individuals in Tanzania were still waiting for safe, third 
country resettlement. The dissolution of the former Soviet Union, 
followed by war and ethnic strife in Chechnya, the Caucasus, and 
Central Asian successor states, created millions of refugees and 
internally displaced persons. Some of these former Soviet citizens were 
left stateless and remain so, unable to claim the rights or protection 
of any nation.
  Despite these tragic events, the first World Refugee Day was an 
occasion of great hope. It provided an opportunity to celebrate the 
perseverance of refugees as they begin new lives in foreign lands, join 
new communities, learn new languages, and help their families adjust. 
The inaugural World Refugee Day celebrated the hard work of 
organizations such as the Office of the United Nations High 
Commissioner for Refugees and other voluntary agencies dedicated to 
serving refugees. The day also acknowledged the personal contributions 
of volunteers in the United States and around the world to help 
refugees resettle in their communities. Finally, World Refugee Day 
raised awareness about the challenging conditions faced by refugees, 
whether they are fleeing violence and persecution, or waiting in a 
camp, hoping that a safe nation will welcome them and provide them 
security.
  The last 10 years have not been easy for refugees. War and conflict 
around the globe have produced more refugees, yet the financial crisis 
and global economic downturn have made it more difficult for 
comparatively wealthy countries to contribute funds to support refugees 
and resettlement programs. For refugees recently resettled in the 
United States, the high unemployment rate, increased demand for low 
income housing, and strain on community service providers has made it 
more difficult for these new Americans to start to build their new 
lives.
  After the September 11, 2001, attacks, certain changes to U.S. asylum 
law were enacted that have the effect of denying protection to genuine 
refugees, such as child soldiers and women forced into sexual slavery, 
if their coerced actions are labeled as ``material support'' for 
terrorism.
  Throughout this difficult time, I have remained proud of the role 
that our country plays in supporting refugees and internally displaced 
persons abroad and helping refugees resettle in the United States. 
Since the 1980 Refugee Act was enacted, more than 2.6 million refugees 
and asylum seekers have been resettled in the United States.
  My home State of Vermont has welcomed more than 5,300 refugees since 
1989. In 2001, the same year as the first World Refugee Day, the first 
group of the ``Lost Boys'' of Sudan was resettled in Vermont. These 
boys had traveled hundreds of miles by foot to escape war and ethnic- 
and religious-based persecution. They were warehoused in refugee camps 
in Kenya and Ethiopia before being resettled in the United States. In 
the 9 years since they have arrived in Vermont, many have graduated 
from college, and some have gone on to attend graduate school.
  Vermont has received refugees from across the globe, including 
Bosnia, Burundi, Vietnam, Somalia, and Russia.

[[Page 11083]]

Hundreds of Vermonters have volunteered to help these refugees adapt to 
life in Vermont, welcoming them into their homes, schools, and places 
of worship. The newcomers have had a profound effect on life in 
Vermont, starting small businesses, excelling in local soccer teams, 
creating art, running community gardens, and sharing their cultures. In 
one Vermont school district, all signs are in English, Vietnamese, and 
Serbo-Croatian, reflecting just a few of the many languages spoken by 
the diverse student population. Not only do the Vermont-born students 
learn a little more about the world from their classmates who are 
refugees, but they also learn an important lesson about the resolve and 
durability of the human spirit.
  While I am proud of the United States' long-standing commitment to 
refugees, I believe that we as lawmakers can do better for the world's 
most vulnerable populations. That is why I introduced S.3113, the 
Refugee Protection Act of 2010. The bill will bring the United States 
back into compliance with the Refugee Convention. Through modifications 
to the statute and misinterpretations of law in court decisions, the 
United States is falling short in some areas of refugee protection. The 
bill corrects serious problems in our law, such as the material support 
provision, which can prevent innocent victims of persecution from 
gaining protection. It also repeals the one-year filing deadline for 
asylum seekers in the United States. The deadline was unnecessary when 
it was added to the law in 1996, and remains unnecessary now. The bill 
also improves due process protections for asylum seekers without 
lowering the standards that one must meet in order to gain refugee 
status.
  For resettled refugees in the United States, the bill ensures that 
per capita grants to assist these new Americans are adjusted every year 
to reflect the cost of living and inflation. The Obama administration 
raised the per capita grant level this year after it had languished at 
an unacceptably low level for years. I commend that action, but want to 
ensure the number does not remain stagnant.
  I thank Senators Levin, Akaka, Durbin, and Burris for their support 
of the Refugee Protection Act. I hope that on World Refugee Day, others 
will join us in helping victims of persecution worldwide.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, this Sunday, June 20, the world will 
observe the tenth annual World Refugee Day. On this day, we call 
attention to humanity's efforts, through the United Nations, the work 
of individual governments, and of nongovernmental organizations, to 
alleviate the plight of those forced from their homes by conflict or 
hatred.
  Sadly, while the world's commitment to these refugees is great, the 
scope of the problem is even greater. Last year, more than 43 million 
people were forcibly displaced from their homes, the largest number 
since the mid-1990s. At the same time, data from the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Refugees show that the number of refugees who 
resettled in 2009 was at the lowest level in two decades.
  These figures, just for 2009, include more than 2.8 million people 
who have fled homes in Afghanistan, more than 1.7 million people from 
Iraq, more than half a million in Somalia, nearly half a million from 
the Democratic Republic of Congo. These stunning numbers represent the 
human cost of humanity's inability to live in peace. These seemingly 
endless millions represent mothers who struggle to feed their babies, 
children unable to go to school, families without dependable access to 
clean water or food or medical care. They are without homes, and if the 
world is silent to their pleas for aid, they will be without hope.
  Fortunately, this human tragedy has prompted global action, with the 
United States in the lead. The Refugee Act of 1980 guides U.S. policy 
with regards to refugees, and since its passage, more than two and a 
half million people forced from their homes have been resettled in the 
United States. Of the more than 112,000 refugees who found refuge in 
countries other than their home in 2009, about 80,000, or nearly three-
quarters, were resettled in the United States.
  Despite our commitment to aiding refugees and to finding them new 
homes, our current policies often stand in the way of fulfilling our 
responsibility to help. Current law and administrative practice too 
often put unnecessary burdens on those seeking asylum here, even 
barring some who hope to escape the worst sorts of violence and 
persecution from entering the United States.
  Seeking to address these problems, I have joined Senators Leahy and 
Durbin in sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act of 2010. Our 
legislation would extend protections for those seeking asylum in the 
United States; reform the process by which asylum seekers can be 
expelled from this country; modify existing law to ensure that 
legitimate asylum-seekers are not inadvertently caught up in 
antiterrorism protections while ensuring that terrorists are unable to 
manipulate the system to gain entry; and ease the path to resettlement 
for asylum-seekers and their families. Failing to remedy these gaps in 
our refugee law would carry a great human cost. As Dan Glickman, the 
president of Refugees International, testified to the Judiciary 
Committee during a hearing on our bill last month, ``The Refugee 
Protection Act will help us do the right thing by creating a more 
efficient and fair process for providing safe haven to the world's most 
vulnerable.''
  We face this continuing challenge without one of the world's most 
eloquent and effective advocates for the world's refugees. Senator Ted 
Kennedy led the drive to pass the original Refugee Act of 1980. He was 
a tireless advocate for the innocent victims of conflict, religious 
persecution and ethnic hatred. As we approach another World Refugee 
Day, we would benefit enormously from his leadership, but we can gain 
inspiration from his example. So long as there are people forced from 
their homes by war and persecution, this Nation will have a 
responsibility to act, and the Refugee Protection Act is an important 
opportunity to do so.

                          ____________________