Annual Resettlement Directors Conference

As Prepared

Good Afternoon,

I am delighted to be here with you today and to address this conference of IRC resettlement directors. IRC takes the “international” in its name very seriously. We value our partnership with IRC, both at home and abroad.

My office depends on and works with IRC to provide lifesaving aid, support shattered communities to reunite separated families and restore lost livelihoods. The work of your dedicated international staff helps thousands of uprooted people who have fled ongoing violence in Darfur, provides emergency assistance in conflict-affected regions of Uganda , helps African children who were abducted during war and forced to become soldiers or sex slaves. IRC's work as a leader in developing tools to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse is a vital contribution to raising professional standards in humanitarian protection and assistance. And the work you, as resettlement directors do every day to help refugees settle in and build new lives in the United States is vital to our comprehensive effort to find durable solutions.

This work depends on partnerships. Partnerships between government at various levels, with international organizations and other governments, with domestic and international non-governmental organizations. Conferences like this are a good opportunity to bring the partners together. Yesterday you heard from Larry Yungk of UNHCR and Barbara Strack of DHS, and we heard from Martha Newton of HHS ORR this morning.

Today, I want to talk a bit about the work I do at the State Department, about my own priorities for refugee protection and assistance, and about the status of the refugee admissions program.

Since joining the Bureau, I have traveled domestically and internationally to broaden my understanding of refugee programs. I have visited our protection and assistance programs in Kenya and Uganda , as well as reception and placement activities in places like Providence, Rhode Island and New York City 's IRC office. I've met with refugees, case workers, cultural orientation instructors, medical screeners, a refugee employer, and program managers, and I've been impressed by the dedication of every person I've met working on this important humanitarian program.

Overseas, we are partners with IRC in the effort to protect and assist refugees, some of whom are stuck in refugee camps for many years. While visiting Kenya earlier this year I was impressed by the work being done by IRC in Kakuma camp on behalf of refugee health: from the provision of additional latrines to reduce the incidence of cholera, to the spraying campaign and mosquito nets to protect refugees from malaria, to the 120 bed hospital. I saw the vital lifesaving work of the therapeutic feeding center, and the merciful work of a physical therapist massaging the legs of a young patient suffering from muscular dystrophy.

We also work with partners to provide the necessary support for returning populations to help them rebuild their lives. (A notable example is our work with IRC in Southern Sudan ) Sometimes, refugees are able to make a new life in their country of refuge, where we work to encourage self-reliance and local integration. And sometimes, there is no option but resettlement to another country that has the means and willingness to offer a new start in life.

As you know the United States leads the world in the number of refugees we welcome to our shores. Over 2.6 million refugees have been resettled by our refugee admissions program since 1975. This past year we opened our doors to more than 53,000 refugees from 55 countries. That is more than all other resettlement countries combined. The work of voluntary organizations like IRC, along with state and local partners and other entities of the federal government, ensures the success of this effort.

So what do we need to do better? For the majority of refugees who will never have the opportunity to resettle in another county, improving access to education and skills training and protection from gender based violence are very important.

Meeting with representatives of the various refugee women's groups in Kakuma Camp in Kenya , I heard the stories of the women who were not yet convinced it was safe to go home to southern Sudan , and the songs of young girls who had endured labor and sexual exploitation, even at the hands of their own families.

Sexual violence and exploitation, associated psychological trauma, and the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, are among the terrible dangers confronting refugees today. As you know, the outrageous exploitation of refugee women and children was highlighted again in a recent report with regard to Liberian refugees and displaced persons.

For the past four years, PRM has been leading an effort to work with our UN and other partners to combat exploitation, a difficult and entrenched problem in West Africa and elsewhere. We are currently leading a U.S. government effort and working with our partners to improve upon areas where we have already made a positive impact, and to launch new initiatives to combat this problem.

My Bureau has been adamant in insisting on improved protection for women refugees. Our programming in this area began in fiscal year 2000, and since then we have provided over $14.8 million in targeted programming to prevent and address gender-based violence.

Since 2002, we have required our overseas assistance implementing partners to adopt a code of conduct that protects refugees from sexual exploitation and abuse. But as all of us well know, simply signing off on codes of conduct is not enough. We are working with our partners as they implement these standards through targeted efforts to increase awareness, to provide skills and standards, and to focus on investigating and addressing abuse and exploitation.

While I was in Kenya earlier this year, I was happy to be present when representatives of all the agencies working with refugees in that country adopted a protocol on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. The project, led by IRC, is building the prevention and response capacity of agencies working with refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab camps, as well as among the urban refugees in Nairobi . It has strong support from implementing partners and the refugee community. That protocol may serve as a model for others as we work with all of our partners to assure that we are doing everything possible to address this problem.

During my trip to Africa I also saw the great hunger of the refugees for education and for the tools to be self-supporting and to rebuild or build a new life for themselves. This reminded me again that we need to avoid thinking of our beneficiaries as victims only, and remember that they can also be active agents on their own behalf.

I have made education one of my top priorities for the Bureau. We are working closely with USAID to explore ways of including refugee children as beneficiaries of President Bush's Africa Education Initiative. And we are looking at innovative ways such as distance learning to enhance educational and economic opportunities. We cannot allow adults to despair of rebuilding their lives. We cannot allow their children to be recruited as child soldiers or for women and children to be left vulnerable to exploitation, including trafficking. Access to education for boys and girls, and keeping girls in school longer, provides a way out of despair, an avenue of hope.

Here are some of the activities already underway:

In Chad , we have sponsored education programs for refugee children and adolescents, immunization, nutritional and other health care for children as well as sports activities in a number of camps. In Liberia we have sponsored child protection and reintegration activities; secondary as well as primary education for returnees; and gender-based violence programming to protect women and girls. In Sudan , there have been numerous programs ranging from pre-natal care to school construction, vaccinations, and training of law enforcement personnel on children's rights.

In the Middle East , we fund education programs through the UN Relief and Works Agency that educate 500,000 Palestinian refugee children, all of whom receive courses in tolerance, democracy, and human rights.

In Asia, through the Tibet Fund, we are funding education projects for Tibetan refugee children in India . In Afghanistan and Pakistan, we fund programs providing education, literacy and life-skills training.

As you can see, the bureau is putting new energy and focus on three areas of priority – gender-based violence, education and self-sufficiency.

As passionately as I feel about my priorities for the Bureau, events always intervene, and there is one issue that we are very heavily focused on right now which could come under the category of ‘things they didn't tell you about when you took this job.'  That is the issue of “material support,” and the challenge of assuring that terrorism-related exclusion provisions in the law do not deny victims of terror, conflict and repression needed protection and sanctuary.

• “Material support” is a growing challenge to the Refugee Admissions Program.  It has touched virtually every element of our caseload to some degree – first in our Colombian caseload, but now also in Liberians, Somalis, Sudanese, Ethiopians,  Cubans, Vietnamese, Hmong, and, of course, all the ethnicities from Burma.  This is having an increasing impact on our resettlement program in nearly every location where we process.
• As you are aware, Secretary Rice recently exercised her authority to waive the material support ineligibility for certain refugees among the ethnic Karen from Burma in Tham Hin camp in Thailand .  DHS recently began adjudications in Tham Hin. We highly value our partnership with IRC's Overseas Processing Entity operation in Bangkok , and hope that we will soon begin moving some of the Tham Hin refugees to the U.S.  
• Overall, we estimate that some 10,000-1 2 ,000 applicants that were included in the original planning for the fiscal year will not arrive this year.  With the waiver now in place, however, some of these same individuals will be approved and travel next year.
• We welcome the waiver as a positive development, but continue to be challenged by the constraints of the terrorism-related ineligibility provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• We are continuing to work within the Administration to develop a long-term and comprehensive approach consistent with national security concerns to allow us to deal with refugee populations in a manner consistent with U.S. government foreign policy interests.  We of course welcome your ideas and support as we continue to work the issue.

I want to thank all of you for your tremendous work in resettlement. I recently visited Providence , Rhode Island , where I had the opportunity to meet with voluntary agency staff, employers, and refugees themselves. I am extremely impressed by the dedication of those working with newly arrived refugees–giving a new chance in life to victims of oppression.

In my work, I have seen things that have shocked and saddened me. I have also met many people who have energized and inspired me. Women who have recovered from exploitation and abuse to become powerful advocates for justice. Humanitarian workers who put themselves at risk in dangerous, desolate places to provide protection and assistance for the most vulnerable. Refugees who have built new lives and become leaders of their communities. Dedicated professionals who devote themselves to making these new lives possible.

I am very proud of the work that the United States is doing to increase hope, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. I know you are dedicated to these goals, and I applaud your commitment and your achievements.

I would be happy to take your questions.