FY 2008 Results 2
FY 2009 Priorities 8Chart: PRM Funding Over Time (All Sources 2000 – 2010)
Chart: Populations of Concern
FY 2010 Statement by Acting Assistant Secretary Samuel M. Witten
Table: FY 2010 MRA and ERMA Summaries
Chart: FY 2010 Budget Request
Migration and Refugee Assistance Overview
Overseas Assistance
Migration
Humanitarian Migrants to Israel
Refugee Admissions
Administrative Expenses
Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Overview 45
Chart: ERMA Annual Drawdowns FY 2004 – FY 2008 48
Table: ERMA History FY 2004 – 2008 49
Summary of Goals and Indicators 52
Within the Department of State, the mission of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) is to protect, assist and seek sustainable solutions for the most vulnerable populations around the world – refugees, conflict victims, stateless persons, and vulnerable migrants – by acting through the multilateral system to achieve operational productivity on behalf of victims and burden-sharing on behalf of the American taxpayer. The Bureau carries out its mission by integrating diplomatic engagement and humanitarian programs, including overseas assistance programs, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and the resettlement of humanitarian migrants to Israel. In close coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bureau also has primary responsibility within the U.S. government for international migration policy and population policy, including advocating for international child and maternal health initiatives and covering relations with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
PRM’s diplomatic and programmatic activities are a core part of the Secretary of State’s conflict response capacity and play a vital role in U.S. government efforts to address the full cycle of complex emergencies. Humanitarian programs support conflict prevention goals by countering extremist elements in fragile states and reducing the likelihood that those in need will turn toward radical ideologies; they support first responders who provide life-saving assistance in conflict areas, such as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Gaza, Sri Lanka and Darfur; and they contribute to reconstruction and stabilization efforts by supporting sustainable solutions to displacement, such as return and reintegration programs.
Consistent with its mission and authorizing legislation, State/PRM works mainly through multilateral institutions – namely, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – to share responsibility, leverage greater assistance from other countries, and encourage global partnerships to enhance international response to humanitarian crises. With early, flexible and reliable support, and through active diplomatic engagement on governing boards, PRM provides strong, active USG leadership in these major international institutions to ensure fast, efficient and effective global responses to humanitarian emergencies.
The Department’s multilateral approach to humanitarian action is based on the fact that international mechanisms for responding to humanitarian crises complement U.S. bilateral response mechanisms in reinforcing humanitarian policies. Moreover, from a burden-sharing standpoint, the U.S. alone cannot, and ought not, provide all the resources required to address the immense needs of refugees, other conflict victims, and the communities that host them. The USG is part of a well-functioning, coordinated, multilateral response that results in significant cost efficiencies for U.S. taxpayers: every 25 cents the USG contributes leverages as much as 75 cents from other donors. Multilateral funding also promotes international donor coordination and supports efforts to strengthen the global civilian response capacity to complex emergencies, so that humanitarian assistance activities can retain their civilian nature.
Humanitarian accomplishments during the year reinforced the U.S. government’s goals of minimizing the potential for renewed conflict, instability, and terrorism, fostering regional stability, and rebuilding countries emerging from conflict. State/PRM’s programs, diplomatic engagement, and advocacy efforts on behalf of its populations of concern yielded significant results in 2008. Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) funds clearly advanced U.S. humanitarian goals of providing protection, assistance, and durable solutions.
State/PRM monitored its programs closely in FY 2008 using a range of performance measures to gauge humanitarian impact, assess progress toward strategic priorities, and ensure accountability to beneficiaries and American taxpayers. Results to date show that PRM-funded programs were largely successful in meeting FY 2008 targets despite growing needs and increasingly difficult operating environments. State/PRM’s populations of concern exceeded 36 million worldwide in 2008, including 16 million refugees and three million stateless persons, as well as countless victims of conflict, and vulnerable migrants. In addition to the growing number of persons in need of humanitarian assistance, State/PRM programs faced serious operational challenges such as the increasing number of attacks on humanitarian workers, the impact of the global food crisis, and fraud in resettled refugees’ claims for family reunification.
Following MRA’s four Project and Program Areas – Overseas Assistance, Refugee Admissions, Humanitarian Migrants to Israel (HMI), and Administrative Expenses – this section provides specific examples of the impact of PRM’s assistance in FY 2008.
Protection
In FY 2008, State/PRM’s overseas assistance programs enhanced protection by helping to prevent the forcible return of refugees, increasing efforts to combat gender-based violence, restoring family links, strengthening best interest determinations and assistance for unaccompanied or separated refugee children, as well as raising awareness and providing documentation to stateless persons. Where there were serious threats of refoulement, PRM leveraged USG diplomacy in concert with support to UNHCR to prevent or mitigate forcible returns of refugees. In 2008, there were no credible reports of refoulement of refugees in 83% of countries, but the USG expressed grave concern at the highest levels about border closures and violence affecting Somali, Eritrean, Tibetan, and Palestinian refugees and asylum seekers. Together with the U.S. Embassy, PRM supported the Government of Israel’s efforts to improve its screening procedures and reception of increasing numbers of asylum seekers from Darfur, Eritrea, and other parts of Africa. In Thailand, PRM, in concert with the U.S. Embassies in the region, worked closely with UNHCR, the Royal Thai Government and Lao People’s Democratic Republic to ensure that Hmong asylum seekers in Thailand with well-founded fears of persecution are not repatriated to Laos and the international community has monitoring access to resettlement sites in Laos.
With its international operational partners, State/PRM maintained its strong international leadership role in preventing and combating gender-based violence (GBV) as a key aspect of protection for women, children, and others at risk of rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse, and other forms of GBV during complex humanitarian emergencies. Available evidence suggests that the stress and disruption of daily life during complex humanitarian emergencies may lead to a rise in GBV. With strong support from the U.S. Congress, in addition to policy advocacy, State/PRM increased its targeted funding for projects that focused on preventing and responding to GBV to over $6.3 million in FY 2008 from $5.3 million in FY 2007, and integrated GBV-related efforts in nearly 28% of PRM’s overseas assistance projects implemented by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Protection for refugee children advanced in 2008 as the USG engaged closely with UNHCR and NGOs to strengthen guidelines for determining the best interests of unaccompanied and separated refugee children. Working with these partners, academia and the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, State/PRM organized a conference on protection of unaccompanied and separated children in October 2008. These policy efforts complemented improvements at the field level in protection for refugee children. With USG support, UNHCR advanced protection programming by providing assistance to over 8,000 cases of unaccompanied and separated children in the nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. In Jordan and Syria, USG funds supported UNHCR’s work with some 8,000 at-risk Iraqi children, including 95 unaccompanied or separated children. State/PRM continued its support for ICRC’s Red Cross messaging and other efforts to reunite family members separated by conflict, including the development of ICRC’s new strategy for restoring family links.
In FY 2008, State/PRM continued efforts to elevate the issue of statelessness in U.S. foreign policy and made inroads in addressing the situation of stateless persons through advocacy and programs. The Department raised awareness of stateless persons by adding a new sub-section devoted to statelessness in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, hosting a panel discussion on the issue at the Foreign Press Center in New York, and through other public diplomacy efforts. The State Department lent strong support to UNHCR’s mandate to protect stateless persons through contributions to its annual budget as well as funding targeted projects. For example, with PRM funds, UNHCR is providing government-issued temporary residency certificates to 150,000 stateless Rohingya in Burma’s Northern Rakhine State.
Humanitarian Assistance
State/PRM assistance played a vital role in many humanitarian emergencies that occurred in 2008. During the crisis in Georgia, for example, PRM support to ICRC enabled it to respond immediately, working to improve the water and sanitation system in the main hospital in Tshkanvili, South Ossetia that was damaged during the fighting, winterizing shelters, and distributing food and non-food items to some 25,000 people affected by the conflict. With State/PRM support, UNHCR assisted 107,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia and ensured that 20,000 conflict-affected children were integrated into the educational system. When conflict erupted in Gaza late 2008, UNRWA continued to serve as the primary humanitarian responder in Gaza and a counterweight to Hamas in providing health care, emergency shelter, food and other relief supplies to 1.1 million Palestinian refugees (70% of the population of Gaza). Despite intense conflict in 2008, ICRC has been one of the few humanitarian responders to protect and assist conflict victims in northern Sri Lanka. In Pakistan, ICRC provided assistance to conflict victims - often in areas inaccessible to other humanitarian responders - including surgical and medical treatment of wounded patients from the conflict in Pakistan and from the border region with Afghanistan.
State/PRM assistance was equally important in building foundations for post-conflict recovery and reconstruction. A detailed external evaluation of PRM-supported refugee return and reintegration programs in Burundi from 2003 – 2007 found that those programs flexibly filled critical gaps in international aid and that returnees achieved social welfare parity with those who had not fled the country in roughly four years. USG funding supported ICRC’s activities in Haiti that increased stability through targeted projects in the slum areas and the prison system, and built the capacity of the local Haitian Red Cross to address the needs of vulnerable populations and victims of disaster and conflict. In southern Sudan, USG support to twelve NGOs funded reintegration programs in health, education, prevention of gender-based violence, and livelihoods development.
Migration
Close coordination with other governments helped improve migration management. In FY 2008, 82% of the initiatives that were agreed at U.S. government-supported regional migration dialogues were implemented by participating countries. For example, USG leadership in the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM), comprised of eleven countries from North and Central America and the Dominican Republic, prompted governments to report on national implementation of RCM regional guidelines on the repatriation of child victims of trafficking.
When possible, the State Department supported opportunities for local integration in host communities in 2008. PRM and its partners engaged the governments of Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and other countries hosting protracted refugee situations to facilitate local integration by lifting restrictions on the movement of refugees, issuing residency papers, providing access to land, and reducing harassment of those searching for food or work. Last year, a “Comprehensive Solutions Strategy for Burundian refugees in Tanzania’s Old Settlements” was launched, giving these refugees the choice to repatriate or to apply for Tanzanian citizenship. Approximately 160,000 Burundian refugees have since submitted their applications for citizenship. Priority projects for the smooth integration of these settlements into host districts have already begun. This initiative represents a major success, and a potential model, for the local integration of protracted refugee populations in need of a durable solution.
Refugee admissions from East Asia also continued to increase during 2008, with over 19,000 refugees from the region arriving in the United States during the year. In addition, a total of 8,935 African refugees comprising 24 nationalities were resettled in the U.S. in FY 2008. The majority of the African refugees admitted were Burundian, Somali, Liberian, Congolese (from the DRC) and Sudanese. FY 2008 also saw an increase in resettlement from Cuba, with 4,177 Cuban refugees admitted to the U.S. Over 2,300 refugees from Europe arrived in the United States, nearly half of whom were Ukrainian, with Moldovans, Russians, Uzbeks and Belarussians accounting for the majority of the remaining European caseload.
Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
FY 2010 Statement by
Acting Assistant Secretary Samuel M. Witten
The FY 2010 request of $1.48 billion for Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) and $75 million for the Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) Fund seeks to provide life-sustaining protection and assistance, and to work toward solutions to protracted displacement. The global economic downturn affects the livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people, but also has the potential to exacerbate conflict and affect international migration. In an era of financial uncertainty, this request seeks to sustain the American commitment to meeting basic humanitarian needs. It reflects some of the overall increase in the cost of providing humanitarian assistance due to the costs of basic commodities such as food and plastic sheeting, rising fuel costs to transport these commodities to often isolated refugee camps and to resettle refugees in the U.S. The request incorporates funding to continue ongoing activities that have previously depended upon supplemental funding.
The scope of humanitarian needs is vast and we expect these needs to continue to increase. With roughly 16 million refugees, an estimated 26 million IDPs, 12 million stateless persons and untold numbers of conflict victims, trafficking survivors and other vulnerable migrants worldwide, humanitarian needs far exceed the capacity of any single government to address. This request emphasizes investments to strengthen the international architecture that is essential to respond effectively and efficiently to new emergencies, and to promote international burden-sharing through a multilateral approach.
U.S. Humanitarian Leadership within a Multilateral Response
Emergency Response in Insecure Settings
Innovative Approaches to Protection
With UNHCR’s well-established mandate in refugee protection, the USG and international community have encouraged the agency to build on its experience and expertise to improve protection for stateless and internally displaced persons. PRM leads USG efforts to prevent statelessness and, working with UNHCR and other partners, continues to raise awareness and increase protection and solutions for stateless individuals worldwide. Not recognized as citizens by any government, stateless people may have inadequate or no legal protection, no right to vote, and often lack access to education, employment, health care, marriage and birth registration, and property rights. They may also encounter travel restrictions, social exclusion, sexual and physical violence, exploitation, forcible displacement, trafficking, and other abuses. In addition, UNHCR is protecting and assisting over 13 million of an estimated 26 million IDPs throughout the world, according to its responsibilities agreed in recent UN humanitarian reforms to fill global gaps. Support through MRA and ERMA enables UNHCR to lead international efforts to meet the protection, emergency shelter and camp coordination needs of IDPs; however, meeting the full range of IDP needs requires a coordinated response both within the USG and within the international community. Within the USG, USAID provides overall USG policy leadership in response to IDP crises, while PRM, consistent with its legislative authorities, has the lead responsibility for providing financial support through UNHCR, ICRC, and IOM. State/PRM relies on USAID to provide assistance through other partners, such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP), to address other IDP needs.
Life-Saving Assistance
Durable Solutions
Orderly Migration and Mixed Flows
Effective, Accountable Programming
Training and travel resources are essential to PRM staff’s ability to assess humanitarian conditions, monitor programs, and coordinate with partners. In FY 2008, PRM officers monitored at least 70% of funding to NGO and other IO programs through formal reporting channels. PRM’s monitoring and evaluation has identified gaps in programs and policies that have encouraged multilateral partners to undertake major management reforms that will continue through FY 2010 and beyond. The FY 2010 request supports PRM’s efforts to strengthen USG monitoring and evaluation of its international organization partners.
International Population Policies to Support Families
PRM's FY 2010 MRA and ERMA requests will ensure that the USG continues its tradition of humanitarian action on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Though no single country can provide protection and assistance to everyone in need worldwide, other countries look to the United States to lead humanitarian action. While the humanitarian context has become more difficult, the USG will advance its leadership in FY 2010 in responding effectively to humanitarian needs throughout the world.
|
MIGRATION AND REFUGEE ASSISTANCE (MRA) SUMMARY ($ in thousands) |
||||||
| FY 2008 Actual1 | FY 2008 Supp Actual1 | FY 2009 Estimate2 | FY 2009 Bridge Estimate | FY 2009 Pending Supp | FY 2010 Request | |
| Overseas Assistance | 749,513 | 293,000 | 660,650 | 288,100 | 293,000 | 1,123,069 |
| Africa | 244,895 | 72,340 | 268,879 | 35,500 | 15,000 | 286,961 |
| East Asia | 24,862 | 9,200 | 26,900 | 3,000 | 3,000 | 33,479 |
| Europe | 30,159 | 5,000 | 48,528 | 6,000 | - | 36,799 |
| Near East | 302,965 | 168,000 | 125,340 | 191,100 | 258,000 | 530,000 |
| South Asia | 51,926 | 16,260 | 37,169 | 50,000 | 7,000 | 106,718 |
| Western Hemisphere | 25,365 | 8,600 | 39,970 | 2,500 | - | 38,590 |
| Strategic Global Priorities | 56,341 | 8,100 | 97,984 | - | 10,000 | 76,522 |
| Migration | 13,000 | 5,500 | 15,880 | - | - | 14,000 |
| Refugee Admissions | 211,671 | 21,504 | 220,850 | 61,900 | - | 305,375 |
| Humanitarian Migrants to Israel | 39,676 | - | 30,000 | - | - | 25,000 |
| Administrative Expenses | 22,318 | 496 | 23,000 | - | - | 27,000 |
| Total MRA | 1,023,178 | 315,000 | 934,500 | 350,000 | 293,000 | 1,480,444 |
|
1The FY 2008 figures are based on appropriations, not actual obligations. 2The FY 2009 Western Hemisphere estimate includes $3.5 million transferred into MRA from ESF. |
||||||
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EMERGENCY REFUGEE AND MIGRATION ASSISTANCE (ERMA) SUMMARY ($ in thousands) |
||||||
| FY 2008 Actual | FY 2008 Supp Actual | FY 2009 Estimate | FY 2009 Bridge Estimate | FY 2009 Pending Supp | FY 2010 Request | |
|
U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund |
44,636 | 31,000 | 40,000 | - | - | 75,000 |
| ERMA Appropriation1 | 44,636 | 31,000 | 40,000 | - | - | 75,000 |
| 1In FY 2008, the President approved almost $78 million in ERMA drawdowns. As of March 31, 2009, the President had approved $42.6 million in ERMA drawdowns in FY 2009. | ||||||
|
Total MRA / ERMA |
1,067,814 |
346,000 |
971,000 |
350,000 |
293,000 |
1,555,444 |
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual* |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate** |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
|
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 1,023,178 | 315,000 | 934,500 | 350,000 | 293,000 | 1,480,444 | |
Highlights:
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate* |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 749,513 | 293,000 | 660,650 | 288,100 | 293,000 | 1,123,069 |
FY 2010 Request
The U.S. overseas assistance goals are to provide protection, assistance and durable solutions on the basis of humanitarian need and according to principles of universality, impartiality, and human dignity, as well as to promote lawful, orderly and humane international migration. By addressing immediate humanitarian needs, USG funding, combined with humanitarian diplomacy, provides critical support for regional stability, thus contributing to reconstruction and stabilization in strategic areas, countering extremism in failed or fragile states, and providing protection and assistance to people fleeing repressive regimes or displaced by conflict. Overseas assistance supports programs that provide physical and legal protection to vulnerable beneficiaries as well as assistance to refugees to return to their homes in safety and dignity or to integrate into their host communities as appropriate. Assistance includes life-sustaining services, such as water and sanitation, shelter, and health care in accordance with established international standards. As conflict is unpredictable and the consequences of conflict are rarely contained within a single country, the bulk of Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) resources are programmed by region, not by country. The majority of overseas assistance funds within the MRA and U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) accounts (some 87% annually) are provided multilaterally as voluntary contributions to international organizations (IOs). Bilateral funding is also provided to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to fill gaps in the international community’s multilateral response.
To ensure that the international system to which MRA and ERMA funds contribute is effectively and efficiently addressing humanitarian needs, the USG works closely with other key donor governments to achieve a common understanding of humanitarian requirements and what constitutes satisfactory performance in responding to them from the international humanitarian system. Through its engagement with governing boards, the USG actively promotes efforts to strengthen the UN system and increase the effectiveness of multilateral humanitarian action.
Primary International Organization Partners
The Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, as amended, mandates that MRA and ERMA accounts support continued USG membership in the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and contributions to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and IOM as well as “other relevant international organizations,” such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The majority of the FY 2010 MRA funding request will provide U.S. contributions to the calendar year 2010 requirements of these four IOs. To demonstrate continued USG leadership and commitment to these institutions, U.S. funding traditionally aims to meet 20% to 25% of their funding requests, with the expectation that other donors will support the remaining 75% to 80%. Being an early and reliable contributor to these organizations also ensures that they can respond quickly to emerging humanitarian needs.
UNRWA has a mandate from the United Nations to provide education, health, relief, and social services to the over 4.6 million registered Palestinian refugees residing in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA also provides emergency food, health, and other assistance to vulnerable Palestinian refugees during humanitarian crises, such as in the West Bank and Gaza. USG support for UNRWA directly contributes to the U.S. strategic interest of meeting the humanitarian needs of Palestinians, while promoting their self-sufficiency. UNRWA plays a stabilizing role in the Middle East through its assistance programs, serving as an important counterweight to extremist elements. Given UNRWA’s unique humanitarian role in areas where terrorist organizations are active, the USG continues to monitor UNRWA’s obligations to take all possible measures to ensure that terrorists do not benefit from USG funding.
Monitoring MRA and ERMA overseas assistance programs to ensure that funds meet core objectives of providing protection and assistance to populations of concern remains a priority. Complex humanitarian emergencies have by their very nature multi-faceted solutions that must integrate diplomatic engagement with multi-sectoral programmatic responses. PRM uses a range of performance measures to determine the impact of MRA and ERMA-funded humanitarian activities and actively monitors programs against these measures. In addition to their strong oversight of primary IO partners, PRM staff members ensured that at least 70% of funding to NGO and other IO programs was monitored through formal reporting channels in FY 2008.
The USG continued to strengthen its monitoring of its primary IO partners in FY 2008. Framework agreements negotiated between the USG and UNHCR, UNRWA and IOM each incorporate rigorous, mutually-agreed strategic goals, indicators, and performance targets for the coming year. IO partners also produce and disseminate sector specific strategies by which PRM officers monitor performance. Last year, UNHCR released 2008-2012 strategic plans for HIV/AIDS, nutrition/food security, malaria, reproductive health, and water/sanitation.
USG support also enabled UNHCR to continue to implement major reforms that are already demonstrating an impact on the lives of beneficiaries. From 2007-2008, substantially more of UNHCR’s funds have gone directly to beneficiaries and for the first time in a decade, staff costs have decreased. In 2008, UNHCR also laid the groundwork for a new budget structure and a comprehensive field review to determine how best to balance the ratio of international to national staff, making greater use of available national staff competencies. The restructuring of the budget has allowed UNHCR to better focus on and present its enhanced mandate for internally displaced persons under UN reform measures, as well as on longer-term transitional programs for refugee returnees.
UNRWA continued to play a stabilizing role in the Middle East by meeting the basic education, health, relief, and social service needs of over 4.6 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. In 2008, UNRWA responded to emergencies in three of its five fields of operation, demonstrating its capacity to provide emergency assistance to its beneficiaries, as well as continue to provide its core services to refugees in a protracted situation. PRM continued to engage with UNRWA and other donors and stakeholders on refining and implementing the agency's Organizational Development Plan, a comprehensive reform initiative designed to undertake needs-based strategic planning and to bridge efficiency gaps, improving overall effectiveness of management and service delivery.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 244,895 | 72,340 | 268,879 | 35,500 | 15,000 | 286,961 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 MRA request for Africa assistance aims to provide a predictable level of support for African refugees and conflict victims at minimum international standards by helping to maintain ongoing protection and assistance programs for refugees and conflict-affected populations in insecure environments, such as in Darfur, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, and Somalia. MRA funds also will continue to support reconstruction and stabilization objectives by providing funding for refugee and internally displaced persons (IDP) return/reintegration operations to southern Sudan, Burundi, Mauritania, and the DRC. Successful repatriation to home communities where basic services are available will promote post-conflict recovery and help lay groundwork for development. Sustaining lasting solutions to displacement remains a high priority.
The resolution of conflict situations in Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Liberia, and southern Sudan is gradually reducing the number of refugees and IDPs, even as new conflicts threaten to cause new displacements. Estimated numbers of refugees in Africa now total around 2.5 million and ICRC provides assistance in over 30 countries. The FY 2010 request will maintain support for programs that provide humanitarian assistance to some 500,000 refugees and IDPs in Chad who have fled violence in Darfur, the Central African Republic, and Eastern Chad. Programs will also respond to the needs of new Congolese refugees, IDPs and conflict victims in the DRC who fled renewed fighting in North and South Kivu, as well as Somali refugees and conflict victims who continue to flee instability in their home country.
The FY 2010 request also builds in funding to promote durable solutions to displacement, which are critical to achieving peace and security in countries emerging from conflict. The FY 2010 request continues support for repatriation/reintegration programs in southern Sudan, the DRC, and Burundi. In southern Sudan, reintegration programs will help ensure that Sudanese returns are durable in the run-up to a referendum on independence in 2011. Repatriation and reintegration to certain parts of the DRC will continue through 2010, as more than 300,000 DRC refugees remain in neighboring countries. In Burundi, it is anticipated that another 136,500 refugees will return home by the end of 2010.
FY 2008 Results
In 2008, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners provided life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection to vulnerable people in even the most dangerous environments. For example, the volatile security situation throughout Chad required temporary relocation of UNHCR, ICRC, and NGO staff on several occasions and presented severe logistical constraints. Despite this, UNHCR and its partners ensured that humanitarian conditions in refugee camps and IDP sites in eastern Chad remained well under emergency thresholds. In Darfur, UNHCR and ICRC were successful in increasing their presence, thereby enhancing protection activities. In FY 2008, UNHCR expanded operation in North and South Darfur, opening new field offices and managing partner activities within the protection cluster. With $4.2 million in ERMA funding, the USG supported ICRC’s continued management of the Gereida IDP camp (with a population of over 130,000) as the Sudanese government forced the NGO camp manager to leave the area. ICRC’s presence served to mitigate further displacements, while ensuring this population had access to health, water, and sanitation services.
In both emergency and protracted settings, the USG worked with key implementing partners to ensure that humanitarian assistance met or exceeded minimum international standards. UNHCR implemented health and nutrition programs in eastern Cameroon that brought the rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) in children under five down from 17% to 8%. USG-funded programs also reduced persistently high malnutrition rates among Somali refugees in Kenya, many of whom have been in exile for over 15 years.
In 2008, with USG support, UNHCR facilitated the safe, voluntary return of numerous refugee populations to their home countries. Some 62,000 Sudanese refugees returned to southern Sudan in 2008 – the highest level since organized repatriation began in 2005. As of 2008, UNHCR had documented over 294,000 returns since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005. In Burundi, UNHCR exceeded its CY 2008 projection by facilitating the return of over 94,000 Burundian refugees. Over 465,000 Burundian refugees have returned from neighboring countries since 2002. As a result of repatriation, the camp based refugee population in Tanzania dropped from 215,000 at the beginning of 2008 to less than 131,000 at the end of the year. In addition, over 38,500 DRC refugees returned to Equateur, Katanga, and South Kivu Provinces in 2008. USG funds also supported the repatriation of Mauritanian refugees which continued despite a coup, and helped conclude most organized Liberian repatriations, including an emergency influx of returnees from Ghana as refugee demonstrations provoked the government of Ghana to resort to deportations.
Once refugees return home, assistance is still needed to ensure a successful recovery, setting the scene for transition from relief to development. In 2008, UNHCR took decisive steps in Liberia to address and mitigate the relief-to-development gap by supporting returnee health clinics and schools while at the same time building government capacity to perform refugee status determinations, and advocating for a reformed asylum procedure in Liberia. In southern Sudan, USG support to twelve NGOs funded reintegration programs in health, education, prevention of gender-based violence, and livelihoods development. After 14 years of support during the North-South conflict, ICRC handed over the management of the Juba Teaching Hospital in southern Sudan to the Government of South Sudan in 2008. According to a follow-up evaluation of the hospital’s functioning and service delivery, the facility continued to be well-run and to meet ICRC standards, signifying that efforts to build local capacity were successful.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 24,862 | 9,200 | 26,900 | 3,000 | 3,000 | 33,479 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request will maintain strong support to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and other international organization (IO) and non-governmental organization (NGO) programs throughout East Asia, including those that address the humanitarian assistance and protection needs of highly vulnerable populations such as unregistered refugees living outside camps in Bangladesh and North Koreans outside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). In accordance with the North Korean Human Rights Act, the State Department supports the UN’s efforts to improve its access to and protection of this population.
Burmese refugees continue to comprise the single largest refugee group in East Asia. Currently, there are over 191,000 registered Burmese refugees in Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, and elsewhere as well as over 723,000 stateless Rohingya in Burma. The FY 2010 MRA request will help UNHCR continue to improve humanitarian conditions both for Burmese refugees and for vulnerable Rohingya in Burma. Strong support for the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), which provides food to Burmese refugees on the Thai-Burma border, will help maintain the health and nutritional status of this population. The FY 2010 request will also meet immediate humanitarian needs of nearly 6,000 Lao Hmong asylum seekers who remain in detention in Petchabun and Nong Khai, Thailand.
FY 2008 Results
In 2008, USG funding and diplomatic engagement resulted in a number of significant humanitarian assistance and protection successes in East Asia. In Thailand, with USG support, UNHCR advanced protection programming by providing assistance to over 8,000 cases of unaccompanied and separated children in the nine camps along the Thai-Burma border. Its subsistence allowances provided domestic and household support to 1,200 vulnerable urban refugees, and it distributed supplementary food rations to approximately 900 persons of concern. UNHCR also supported vocational and Thai language courses, health and nutrition awareness campaigns, start-up support for self-reliance activities, and created three Legal Assistance Centers in coordination with the Ministry of Justice to strengthen the rule of law in camps and improve the administration of justice. With FY 2008 supplemental funding, PRM provided support to Handicap International to enhance self-reliance and participation of people with disabilities in three refugee camps. With support from MRA, ERMA and supplemental funds, the USG was able to address new, unexpected needs in the region, primarily resulting from food price inflation, and eliminated the subsequent budgetary shortfall of the TBBC which if unmet, could have resulted in reduced food distributions to over 140,000 vulnerable Burmese refugees.
Ensuring that the Lao Hmong asylum seekers in Thailand are protected from persecution remains a high priority for the USG, which together with UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), regularly raises concerns regarding protection of the Hmong with senior Thai and Lao government officials. The USG and UNHCR continue to engage Thai and Lao government officials to ensure that the asylum screening process meets international standards and Hmong with well-founded fears of persecution are not repatriated to Laos. State/PRM support in 2008 allowed the international community to ensure that the immediate humanitarian needs of the Hmong in Petchabun were met including provision of food, charcoal, plastic sheeting, and hygiene kits. Furthermore, PRM support to IOM allowed the organization to meet the health, education and social service needs of the Hmong in Nong Khai as well.
Operational partners greatly enhanced refugee protection in Bangladesh in 2008. Arbitrary arrests were greatly reduced in the two refugee camps thanks to increased community involvement and reporting, combined with daily interventions by UNHCR and its implementing partners, and regular follow-up of individual cases with camp authorities, police and local courts. The accountability of officials in charge of the camps was reinforced and the refugee-led camp management system was replaced by a new community-based participatory approach. The government also permitted UNHCR to replace all shelters in the camps, vastly improving living conditions. Further, a March 2008 nutritional survey revealed a sharp drop in global acute malnutrition (GAM) among children under five from 16.8% in 2006 to 8.6% in 2008, below emergency levels.
In the Philippines, USG funding helped ICRC deliver food, essential household items, and clean water and sanitation services to conflict victims in the southern island of Mindanao where conflict continued in 2008 between the Philippines government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after a decade-long peace process. ICRC also disseminated educational materials to promote international humanitarian law among the Armed Forces of the Philippines and conducted regular discussions with the parties to the conflict on the need to protect civilians.
2008 also saw major successes in addressing the problem of statelessness in the region. PRM advocacy and engagement was instrumental in improving the living conditions of Burmese refugees in Bangladesh refugee camps as well as stateless Rohingya in Burma. In 2008, the legal status of 150,000 Rohingya in Burma was enhanced when UNHCR successfully negotiated the provision of government-issued temporary residency certificates for them. Doing so advanced the Rohingya’s legal standing, reduced travel restrictions, and increased their access to health services and schools. Also in 2008, the Government of Bangladesh agreed to issue national identity cards to the formerly stateless Biharis, including this population in its national voter registration campaign. Elsewhere, State/PRM partners encouraged the Government of Vietnam to plan for the naturalization of stateless persons of Cambodian origin who fled the Khmer Rouge regime.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 30,159 | 5,000 | 48,528 | 6,000 | - | 36,799 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request will support new needs in Georgia resulting from the August 2008 conflict with Russia as well as ongoing needs of protracted regional humanitarian situations in the Caucasus resulting from lingering post-Soviet separatist conflicts, including those in Chechnya, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. In the North Caucasus, displaced populations suffer from elevated infant and under-5 mortality rates that are twice as high as the national averages. Programs will also seek to address the needs of over 800,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who remain displaced in the South Caucasus, as well as significant populations of Chechen, Afghan and Iraqi refugees in the region.
In the Balkans, the FY 2010 request will support ongoing efforts to promote local integration of some 200,000 Kosovo IDPs in Serbia and local integration or return to Kosovo of IDPs and refugees in Montenegro and Macedonia. Additionally, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has identified the protracted refugee situation in Serbia as one that should be successfully addressed in 2010. Over 90,000 pre-Dayton refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina remain in Serbia waiting for durable solutions.
FY 2008 Results
The end of FY 2008 saw conflict flare between Russia and Georgia, creating over 180,000 newly displaced persons in Georgia, who joined the nearly one million people already displaced throughout the North and South Caucasus. The USG responded quickly, funding UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide direct assistance to victims of the conflict. ICRC was able to respond immediately, working to improve the water and sanitation system in the main hospital in Tshkanvili, South Ossetia that was damaged during the fighting. ICRC also visited detainees and set up communications and tracing efforts to restore family linkages. It distributed food and non-food items to some 25,000 people affected by the conflict, and helped avert a major crisis by winterizing shelters. By the end of 2008, UNHCR had helped some 150,000 people to return to their homes. UNHCR also provided assistance to persons of concern who had crossed into Russia from South Ossetia during the crisis.
USG funding also supported ICRC’s efforts to assist with cases of missing persons throughout the Caucasus and to rehabilitate water and sanitation systems for rural villages in the North Caucasus. USG funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the North Caucasus focused on helping families reestablish their lives. In Chechnya, funds supported basic health care and water/sanitation activities that assisted over 113,000 people. Returning families received construction supplies to rehabilitate their homes and a plumbing system was refitted, benefiting thousands of residents. USG funding supported ICRC medical teams in Chechnya and Ingushetia and a pre-school program for 400 returnee children, as well as computer and medical courses for single mothers.
In the South Caucasus, the USG focused on addressing critical gaps in humanitarian assistance to respond to the needs of Iraqi refugees in Armenia through acculturation and livelihood training. Thanks to integration efforts supported by the USG, the number of IDPs in Armenia fell dramatically from 100,000 to under 5,000. In Georgia, displaced families from Abkhazia benefited from a USG-funded shelter project which converted old public buildings into public housing.
In Eastern Europe, USG contributions supported shelter and durable solutions projects in Serbia that benefited
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 302,965 | 168,000 | 125,340 | 191,100 | 258,000 | 530,000 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request will continue support for activities of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This request incorporates $300 million in protection and assistance programs for Iraqi refugees, conflict victims, and displaced persons inside Iraq which were supported in past years by supplemental appropriations. It seeks to continue critical humanitarian programs for Iraqis in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region, while increasing support for refugee returns to Iraq. It is based on an assumed environment of continued Iraqi refugee needs in host countries and continued internally displaced people (IDP) and conflict victim needs in Iraq, the improvement of security in an increasing number of areas inside Iraq, and the consequent gradual increase in returns of both refugees and IDPs.
The FY 2010 request also includes continuing strong support to UNRWA as the sole UN agency providing education, health, and other assistance to over 4.6 million Palestinian refugees, funding that is critical to meeting basic humanitarian needs that otherwise would likely be met by extremist groups, particularly in Gaza and Lebanon. The ongoing crisis in Gaza highlighted UNRWA’s critical role in meeting the humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and fostering regional stability. The agency’s funding needs have grown substantially in recent years as an increasing number of Palestinian refugees rely on UNRWA’s emergency assistance in Gaza and the West Bank. Elsewhere in the region, USG support for UNRWA focuses on promoting self-reliance among Palestinian refugees, elevating services to a level comparable to those provided by host governments, and maintaining the physical integrity of their shelters, schools, and clinics, many of which are decades old. At the same time, UNRWA has integrated management reform activities into its regular budget.
FY 2008 Results
In response to the growing protection and assistance needs of Iraqi refugees, IDPs, and conflict victims, USG support helped UNHCR and other partners increase their staffing and capacity to take on what has become the largest movement of people in the Middle East since 1948. In FY 2008, USG funds provided food and non-food items, health assistance, and education to approximately 300,000 Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria. UNHCR expanded operations in Syria, resulting in increased registrations, expanded food distributions, enrollment of over 43,000 Iraqis in Syrian schools, and over 520,000 medical referrals and interventions. UNHCR identified and assisted over 600 survivors of gender-based violence in 2008. UNHCR also works closely with some 8,000 at-risk Iraqi children, 95 unaccompanied or separated children and 6,316 women at risk. In Jordan, UNHCR dramatically increased its protection and resettlement staff and expanded its assistance network to include 16 national and international partners, in order to assist all Iraqis (not just the 53,000 who have registered with UNHCR). UNHCR has addressed protection needs through 7,000 home visits by social workers and volunteers, identified over 42,000 especially vulnerable refugees through its 21 community centers, and provided cash assistance to approximately 6,000 Iraqi refugee families. With USG support, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided supplies for renal dialysis machines used by Iraqi patients and funded cancer treatment for poor Iraqis at the King Hussein Cancer Center. Through non-governmental organization (NGO) partners, USG funding supported two local clinics that provided close to 54,000 health care consultations and 12 mobile health units that provided basic medical care to almost 91,000 individuals.
In the education sector, UNHCR and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with strong support from the USG, continued to encourage public school enrollment of Iraqi students in Jordan and Syria regardless of residency status, funding classroom expansion, teacher salaries, and student expenses. UNHCR and international NGOs have also provided non-formal, informal and remedial educational programs for Iraqi students. In addition, UNHCR laid the groundwork for expanded psychosocial care in 2008 and distributed food and critical non-food items to refugees in Syria and Jordan who were becoming increasingly impoverished as their resources ran out. The USG also funded the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist Iraqi trafficking victims, and those at high risk of being trafficked in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria. Through this project, IOM established the first shelter for victims of trafficking in Syria.
In FY 2008, the USG supported UNRWA’s General Fund, emergency appeals, and the reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanon. In 2008, UNRWA responded to emergencies in three of its five fields of operation, demonstrating its capacity to deliver assistance effectively in times of acute crisis, while continuing to provide core services. During the Gaza crisis, for example, UNRWA provided emergency shelter, health care, food, and other relief supplies to 1.1 million Palestinian refugees who constitute over 70 percent of the population in Gaza. The USG also provided support to ICRC's operations in the Near East, which provided humanitarian assistance (food, medicine, hygiene kits) to victims of conflict, especially in Gaza, and rehabilitated water systems in both West Bank and Gaza. ICRC also monitored the health care system in West Bank and Gaza, paying particular attention to the critical situation of hospitals in Gaza in light of fuel shortages, and provided medical equipment and supplies.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 51,926 | 16,260 | 37,169 | 50,000 | 7,000 | 106,718 |
FY 2010 Request
FY 2008 Results
In 2008, international organizations (IOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) funded by the USG implemented protection and assistance programs throughout South Asia, despite challenges posed by intensifying conflict, harsh weather, and food insecurity. Civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased by 20% as compared with 2007, and 40% compared with 2006. Following the worst drought in 10 years, at least 30% of the Afghan population has become food insecure and in need of assistance. Despite these difficulties, UNHCR has been successful in sustaining the largest and most successful repatriation operation in its history, allowing 277,000 refugees to return to Afghanistan in 2008, mostly from Pakistan. As a result of repatriation, the Government of Pakistan closed its largest Afghan refugee camp, Jalozai, in April 2008.
Due to a particularly cold winter season, UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) devoted considerable time and resources to winterization assistance for vulnerable populations in Afghanistan. UNHCR supported more than 10,000 families with shelters, benefiting some 60,000 individuals. Since 2002, UNHCR has provided shelter to 170,000 families, benefiting more than one million people, and implemented more than 9,000 water points in refugee return areas as well as those affected by drought. These projects were implemented either directly or in cooperation with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, benefiting an estimated 1.4 million Afghans. USG support to ICRC helped it maintain the operation of hospitals and mine awareness programs, the rehabilitation of water and sanitation systems throughout the country, and regularly visit Afghan detainees. The ICRC continues to be instrumental, along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in building Afghan national capacity to respond to humanitarian needs. In Pakistan, the ICRC provides assistance to conflict victims, often in areas that are inaccessible to other humanitarian responders. As in Afghanistan, ICRC visited detainees in Pakistan and assisted amputees with physical therapy, prostheses, and follow up visits.
In 2008, the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE intensified, resulting in massive displacement. UNHCR continued to lead UN efforts to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees. UNHCR monitored IDP returns, conducted registration, provided legal and livelihood opportunities for IDP returnees while also responding to emergency needs. ICRC used both MRA and ERMA funds to protect and assist conflict-affected populations. Throughout the year, ICRC helped 283,000 civilians make the crossing across the front lines of the conflict. It served as a neutral intermediary at check points; distributed shelter material and other emergency relief items to the newly displaced; provided medical services; improved water and sanitation services, helped restore links between separated families and engaged the government and non-state actors on the importance of respecting international humanitarian law.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate* |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 25,365 | 8,600 | 39,970 | 2,500 | - | 38,590 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request includes funding for emergency assistance to the rapidly growing number of persons newly displaced by the conflict in Colombia. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia continues to grow and totals between three and four million, making it the second largest displaced population in the world. There are also more than 450,000 Colombian refugees, asylum seekers and persons of concern that have been identified by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the Western Hemisphere region (principally in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela). The request supports regional programs of UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), including protection and assistance for victims of conflict in Haiti, as well as refugees, stateless persons and asylum seekers in the Caribbean. It also includes funds to meet the State Department’s commitment to support the needs of interdicted migrants at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base under Executive Order 13276. These migrants have been found to be in need of protection as well as their initial resettlement in third countries.
FY 2008 Results
The number of Colombian IDPs and refugees continued to increase in 2008, with estimates of at least 350,000 newly displaced during the year. Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities continued to be disproportionately affected by displacement. In FY 2008, MRA funds provided protection and assistance to Colombian refugees and IDPs, the majority of which was directed at programs to aid Colombian IDPs in the emergency phase of displacement. Despite a notable increase in the Government of Colombia’s budget for IDPs since 2003, PRM programs continue to be necessary to fill critical gaps in assistance and to pilot innovative activities for this vulnerable population (e.g., incorporating sexual and gender-based violence modules in IDP assistance programs and providing emergency income generation training and resources so IDPs can more rapidly return to a stable economic state and self-reliance).
The USG also made inroads in preparing for a potential mass migration from Cuba or Haiti, both of which remain extremely vulnerable to migration outflows. The USG continued to work with IOM to incorporate surge and mass migration preparations in its activities. In FY 2008, USG funding supported ICRC’s activities in Haiti which increased stability through targeted projects in the slum areas and prison system, and built the capacity of the local Haitian Red Cross to address the needs of vulnerable populations and victims of disaster and conflict. It supported the Haitian Red Cross response to food riots in April 2008 and in the subsequent storms during 2008 that devastated many parts of Haiti, especially Gonaives. In addition to these important preparedness efforts, the USG supported durable solutions for Cubans forced to flee their country due to fear of persecution. In FY 2008, the USG resettled 28 Cubans to Hungary and 11 to Ireland from the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Naval base.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 56,341 | 8,100 | 97,984 | - | 10,000 | 76,522 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request supports humanitarian partners’ core capacities to respond to humanitarian needs, including UN management reform efforts that are critical to the USG’s broader UN reform agenda. By providing strategic support to headquarters and operational reserve capacities of key implementing partners, MRA funding ensures that international organizations and non-governmental organizations have the tools to respond quickly and effectively to emerging crises, protect humanitarian workers in increasingly insecure environments, and enhance accountability through results-based management reforms. This request also provides targeted funding for global humanitarian and Congressional priorities, such as protecting the most vulnerable populations, including refugee women and children, stateless persons, and refugees in protracted situations; addressing the pernicious problem of gender-based violence (GBV); building technical capacity to combat the major threats to refugee health (infectious diseases); and improving the international community’s use of standards and indicators, such as mortality rates and nutritional status to measure the impact of humanitarian assistance programs.
FY 2008 Results
USG diplomatic engagement with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) Executive Committee Member States as well as USG financial support enabled UNHCR to continue implementing management reform efforts, notably its Results-Based Management (RBM) initiative. With the introduction of UNHCR’s Global Strategic Objectives for 2007-2009, the agency continued to roll out RBM software designed to strengthen operations management from the planning stage through monitoring and reporting. In addition, under a “Structural Management Change” initiative UNHCR took the decision to outpost certain administrative functions from its headquarters in Geneva to Budapest, Hungary, and to decentralize services by region in order to simplify procedures at headquarters and bring technical support to the field and closer to the point of delivery. In 2008, UNHCR also launched its Global Needs Assessment initiative in eight pilot countries; an important step toward budgeting based on the rights and needs of beneficiaries, rather than on the support that UNHCR expects to receive from donors. As a result of these management reforms, substantially more of UNHCR’s funds have gone directly to beneficiaries and for the first time in a decade, staff costs have decreased.
USG funding reinforced UNHCR protection efforts around the world in FY 2008. Funding supported 20 American Junior Professional Officers in key locations around the world, helped UNHCR disseminate and train on its “Guidelines for Determining the Best Interests of the Child”, and supported the deployment of over 200 protection officers to some 60 countries from the Surge Protection Capacity Project managed jointly by UNHCR and the International Rescue Committee. Surge deployments filled protection gaps in areas such as statelessness, gender mainstreaming, and legal protection in countries such as Chad, Sudan, Kenya, and Colombia.
USG support to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) funded the organization’s protection work globally. Working with ICRC, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the American Red Cross throughout 2008, the USG continued to play a critical role in implementing a key component of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the Magen David Adom (MDA) in allowing PRCS to expand Emergency Medical Services in East Jerusalem.
In FY 2008, the USG maintained its strong international leadership role in preventing and combating GBV as a key component of protection for the most vulnerable. Combating GBV increases protection for women, children, and other people at risk during complex humanitarian emergencies by preventing or responding to incidents of rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and other forms of GBV. In addition to policy advocacy, PRM devoted over $6.3 million to targeted projects that focused on preventing and responding to GBV, and ensured that GBV efforts were integrated in nearly 28% of PRM’s overseas assistance projects.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 13,000 | 5,500 | 15,880 | - | - | 14,000 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 MRA request will continue support for ongoing national and regional efforts to build the capacity of governments to develop and implement effective, orderly, and humane migration management policies and systems in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. The FY 2010 request provides modest but essential funding for anti-trafficking initiatives through the International Organization for Migration (IOM), primarily to prevent the exploitation of women and children worldwide and provide assistance to trafficking victims, including those who may need protection and assistance through international return and reintegration programs. The Migration request also includes funds for the USG’s assessed contribution to IOM and tax reimbursement for its U.S. employees.
FY 2008 Results
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 39,676 | - | 30,000 | - | - | 25,000 |
FY 2010 Request
Humanitarian Migrants to Israel is a program implemented by the United Israel Appeal (UIA) that supports the integration of humanitarian migrants into Israeli society. In consultation with members of Congress and UIA, the FY 2010 request for the program is reduced to reflect the declining number of Jews outside of Israel in need of this assistance, largely as a result of this program’s continued success. Nonetheless the request will continue to provide adequate funding to support a package of services designed to promote integration of humanitarian migrants into Israeli society, including transportation to Israel, Hebrew language instruction, and vocational training to those still in need.
FY 2008 Results
Since 1973, at the request of Congress, the USG has funded the UIA to resettle in Israel humanitarian migrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU), countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Near East, and certain other designated countries. In FY 2008, 7,300 humanitarian migrants arrived in Israel through the program, including 5,400 migrants from the FSU and 1,580 migrants from Ethiopia. In FY 2008, MRA funds to UIA supported the preparation, transportation, care and maintenance of Jewish humanitarian migrants en route to Israel; assisted in their initial absorption and resettlement; and helped those who require additional services to successfully adjust to Israeli civil society. Based on a USG recommendation, UIA also used MRA funds to continue an independent evaluation of select program areas.
As a result of USG support and engagement, UIA maintained a high level of performance in 2008. The program met its target of providing 100% of eligible humanitarian migrants to Israel with mandatory services, including care and processing en route, transport to Israel, and transitional housing; 94% of program participants were satisfied with these services. Humanitarian migrants also received effective Hebrew language instruction and 96% of humanitarian migrants from the former Soviet Union advanced a grade level within ten months, exceeding the target of 90%. Performance of language trainees from Ethiopia was below target with 54% of Ethiopian language trainees having advanced a full grade level within ten months.
UIA continued to demonstrate improved efficiency by reducing the amount of time that migrants stayed at absorption centers, thereby reducing program costs. In 2008, the average cost per migrant of $3,785 was well below the target of $5,763. UIA also ensured that 82% of high school students in the program earned a matriculation certificate upon completion of the program, again exceeding program targets. The program also helped migrants acquire the vocational skills they will need for long term employment and success in Israel. In 2008, 91% of Ethiopian migrants completed vocational training programs.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 211,671 | 21,504 | 220,850 | 61,900 | - | 305,375 |
FY 2010 Request
Achieving durable solutions for refugees -- including third country resettlement -- is a critical component of the State Department’s work. The FY 2010 request will continue support for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, an important humanitarian undertaking that demonstrates the compassion of Americans for the world’s most vulnerable people by offering a solution to displacement when voluntary return and local integration are not possible. MRA funds will be used to fund costs associated with the overseas processing of refugee applications, transportation-related services for refugees admitted under the program, and initial resettlement services to all arriving refugees, including housing, furnishings, clothing, food and medical assistance, employment, and social service referrals.
The State Department implements the program by providing funding to U.S.-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in both overseas processing functions and domestic reception and placement services. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) receives MRA funds for overseas processing and medical screening functions in some locations and for transportation-related services. MRA funds also support the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) efforts to increase its capacity worldwide to screen refugees and refer those that are in need of this critical form of protection to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The number of refugees to be admitted in FY 2010 will be set after consultations between the Administration and the Congress before the start of the fiscal year. The request also includes funding to provide refugee benefits to Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their families as mandated by the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007.
FY 2008 Results
In FY 2008, for the first time since September 11, 2001, refugee admissions to the United States exceeded 60,000. The U.S. welcomed 60,192 refugees to begin new lives in communities across the country, representing nearly a 25% increase in refugee arrivals over FY 2007 and utilizing 86% of the regional ceilings established by Presidential Determination. This increase reflects the resolution of a number of logistical challenges associated with resettlement operations for Iraqi, Bhutanese, and Burmese refugees that permitted greater access to refugee populations in Syria, Baghdad, Nepal and Thailand during FY 2008. The program also continued to reflect the U.S. government’s commitment to diversifying refugee admissions, with 65 nationalities represented among refugees admitted to the U.S. in FY 2008. The United States continued to lead the world in providing permanent resettlement by admitting more refugees than all other resettlement countries combined through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The admission of Iraqi refugees in need of resettlement continued to be a top priority for the United States and the substantial growth in the number of Iraqi refugees arriving in the U.S. during FY 2008 demonstrated the U.S. government’s commitment to this population. In FY 2008, 13,823 Iraqi refugees were admitted to the United States, an almost eight-fold increase over FY 2007’s 1,608 Iraqi refugee admissions. An additional 438 Iraqi SIV beneficiaries were provided refugee benefits from the MRA Account as a result of special authorizing legislation.
Refugee admissions from East Asia also continued to increase during 2008, with over 19,000 refugees from the region arriving in the United States during the year. Burmese refugees accounted for the majority of those resettled from the region, as the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program continued to expand its access to camps in Thailand. In South Asia, efforts to resettle Bhutanese refugees in Nepal came to fruition in 2008 with 5,320 Bhutanese refugees arriving to begin new lives in the United States.
In Africa, the discovery of widespread fraud in certain programs resulted in a drop in the number of African refugees admitted into the U.S. in FY 2008, and new measures are being implemented to ensure the integrity of the overall admissions program. Nonetheless, a total of 8,935 African refugees comprising 24 nationalities were resettled in the U.S. in FY 2008. The majority of the African refugees admitted were Burundian, Somali, Liberian, Congolese (from the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Sudanese.
FY 2008 also saw an increase in resettlement from Cuba, with 4,177 Cuban refugees admitted to the U.S. Over 2,300 refugees arrived in the United States from Europe, the majority of whom were religious minorities from Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Belarus.
FY 2009 Priorities
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| Migration and Refugee Assistance | 22,318 | 496 | 23,000 | - | - | 27,000 |
FY 2010 Request
The FY 2010 request includes a modest increase to cover the administrative expenses of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). Administrative funds support salaries, travel expenses and other necessary administrative costs to allow the Bureau to manage effectively and responsibly humanitarian assistance programs funded through the MRA and ERMA appropriations.
As the numbers of displaced people increase, humanitarian programs funded by the MRA and ERMA appropriations have expanded to respond to growing needs. Humanitarian programs managed by PRM have grown 30% from 2007 to 2008: in FY 2008 PRM obligated over $1.4 billion as compared to $1.08 billion in FY 2007. With an annual administrative operating level over $26 million and an expected reduction in the amount of carryover funding that will be available in 2010, this modest increase will allow the Bureau to continue to provide necessary oversight and management of its programs. PRM staff bring humanitarian expertise and commitment to U.S. foreign policy when emergencies break, and their sound management of foreign assistance programs through responsible monitoring and evaluation demonstrates excellent stewardship of taxpayer resources. Performance management is at the heart of the Bureau’s mission on behalf of the world’s refugees, conflict victims, and vulnerable migrants, allowing it to provide funding according to need, and to meet the simultaneous imperatives to provide assistance effectively, efficiently and in a sustainable manner. The FY 2010 request provides continued investment in an active and growing monitoring and evaluation training program for staff to better assess the impact of USG funds. This request will also support increased staffing levels in areas of the Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, where there has been dramatic increases in programming levels as a result of increased humanitarian needs.
FY 2008 Results
In FY 2008 PRM continued to keep administrative costs at a modest two percent of overall operations. The Bureau’s 130 U.S. direct hire staff, including 28 regional refugee coordinators stationed at U.S. Embassies around the world, helped maintain U.S. government humanitarian leadership through active diplomatic engagement with refugee-hosting and receiving countries, diligent management and oversight of growing refugee assistance and admissions programs, and close coordination with international organizations (IO), non-governmental organizations (NGO), other donors, and other U.S. government agencies. PRM staff monitored and evaluated 70% of the Bureau’s funding to NGO and other IO projects and PRM’s management of programs resulted in 98% of NGOs and other IO programs funded by PRM taking corrective action within a year of receiving negative findings in financial audits.
In FY 2008, PRM continued to shift overseas staff to respond to changing humanitarian requirements. The refugee coordinator position in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire was relocated to Ndjamena, Chad, reflecting both the improving situation in West Africa, and the increased needs of the displaced in eastern Chad. The Bureau increased the number of full-time, direct hire USG personnel assigned to Embassy Baghdad and Embassy Amman, and established a refugee coordinator position in Damascus, Syria, as part of a process begun in FY 2007 to increase staffing in the Middle East to manage a growing Iraqi refugee assistance and admissions program. The Bureau also deployed staff temporarily in response to crises in Georgia, Gaza, and Sri Lanka, and participated in contingency planning for potential crises in the Caribbean and South Asia.
| ($ in thousands) |
FY 2008 Actual |
FY 2008 Supp |
FY 2009 Estimate |
FY 2009 Bridge |
FY 2009 Pending Supp |
FY 2010 Request |
| U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund | 44,636 | 31,000 | 40,000 |
___ |
–– | 75,000 |
FY 2010 Request
The U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) Fund serves as a contingency fund from which the President can draw in order to respond effectively to humanitarian crises. The FY 2010 request will ensure the ability of the United States to respond quickly to future urgent and unexpected refugee and migration needs.
Over the past six years, more than $60 million in ERMA funds have been expended annually to address urgent and unforeseen needs, and similar levels of draw downs may be expected in FY 2009 and FY 2010, depending on humanitarian needs and new population displacements. Replenishing the Fund is vital to maintaining this important emergency response tool.
FY 2008 Results
In response to unanticipated and urgent humanitarian needs, the President approved ERMA drawdowns in FY 2008 totaling $77.95 million to address humanitarian crises in Chad/Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Georgia, Kenya, Mauritania, Somalia, Mali, Burma, Niger, Senegal, the West Bank and Gaza, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.
Elsewhere in Africa, conflict and insecurity in FY 2008 in eastern DRC, Darfur, and the Central African Republic (CAR) resulted large movements of people fleeing violence and insecurity. Fighting in eastern DRC in early FY 2008 resulted in 30,000 new refugee arrivals in Uganda and Rwanda, overwhelming camps that were already full and ill-equipped to handle new arrivals. At the same time, the humanitarian situation in Darfur further deteriorated, causing several thousand refugees to flee to northern CAR, while internal conflict in western CAR also generated outflows of refugees into Cameroon. With ERMA funds of $4 million, the USG funded NGOs to address food insecurity among CAR refugees in Cameroon, support income generation and agricultural programs in eastern and southern Chad, and provide humanitarian assistance to Sudanese refugees in CAR and DRC refugees in Rwanda. In addition, the USG provided $1.8 million to ICRC to address the crisis in DRC.
In order to address the growing insecurity in eastern Chad, $2 million from the ERMA Fund was used to support the Chadian Police Integrated Security Detachment, a key element of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad’s (MINURCAT) effort to fill the security gap in eastern Chad. ERMA funding covered the monthly stipends of trainees and police units associated with refugee camps and refugee hosting areas. As a result, the physical protection of both refugee populations, as well as that of the international and NGO partners who serve them, improved considerably. The USG also used $2 million in ERMA funding to support UNHCR and NGO programs for the voluntary return and reintegration of approximately 24,000 Mauritanian refugees from Senegal and Mali to Mauritania after two decades of exile.
ERMA funds were also used to respond to emergency appeals of the ICRC for victims of renewed/escalating conflicts in Africa. With $4.2 million in ERMA funding ICRC was able to continue to manage the large Gereida camp in Darfur, a region where the number of displaced continued to grow, while abuse of non-combatants, particularly sexual violence against women and girls, continued at high levels. ERMA funding of $1 million allowed ICRC to protect and assist victims of an emerging complex set of conflicts in Mali and Niger, and renew protection and assistance activities in the Casamance area of Senegal that had been suspended in 2006 due to insecurity.
In early FY 2009, four ERMA drawdowns totaling $42.6 million have been used to meet unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs (as of March 31, 2009).
In October 2008, $8.3 million in ERMA funding was used to respond to the needs of conflict victims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Georgia. In Pakistan, where military operations against terrorist groups displaced 300,000 Pakistanis, $5.5 million in ERMA funds supported UNHCR and ICRC protection and assistance activities. Funds to UNHCR were used to support camp management, shelter, and protection of displaced Pakistanis while funding to ICRC provided household items, clothing, and food to the displaced, medical support to the wounded and sick, and adequate access to latrines and water in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. An additional $800,000 allowed PRM to address unanticipated administrative and operational costs associated with increased programming in this high-threat region. In Georgia, $2 million in ERMA funding was provided to ICRC for the provision of emergency relief and medical assistance to victims of the conflict. ICRC was the first and only humanitarian organization able to access and provide services in South Ossetia, including emergency relief and medical assistance to conflict victims.
In December 2008, an ERMA drawdown of $6 million allowed UNHCR and NGO partners to respond to the protection and assistance needs of people displaced as a result of renewed conflict in the DRC. With $4 million in ERMA funding, UNHCR registered IDPs, identified new hosting sites, and addressed the protection needs of the most vulnerable, including unaccompanied children and women who have been victims of sexual violence. UNHCR also provided emergency assistance, primarily non-food items such as blankets and kitchen sets. In Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda, UNHCR assisted new DRC refugees both in host communities and refugee transit camps. With ERMA support, UNHCR worked with key NGO partners to prepare contingency plans to address up to 100,000 new refugees. The remaining $2 million in ERMA funding supported NGO activities that complemented the work of UNHCR in Uganda and southern Sudan.
An ERMA drawdown in January 2009 totaling $20.3 million was used to respond to the urgent and unforeseen needs of Palestinians in the wake of the December/January conflict in Gaza. Of this amount, $13.5 million funded UNRWA’s emergency programs, including the provision of emergency food assistance, health services, temporary shelter, and non-food items to affected Palestinian refugees. With $6 million in ERMA funding, ICRC focused on providing life-saving medical support, repair of critical water and electricity infrastructure in Gaza, and evacuation of civilians from the area. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) received $800,000 in ERMA funding to support its coordination role during the conflict.
In March 2009, the USG again turned to ERMA to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of IDPs in Pakistan where IDP numbers were anticipated to rise to 625,000 persons. A total drawdown of $8 million was used to support UNHCR and ICRC efforts to address growing humanitarian assistance needs as a result of expanded Pakistani military operations against armed insurgents. With $3.3 million in ERMA funding, UNHCR assisted displaced persons sheltering with host families, provided the Government of Pakistan with camp management, and supported the most vulnerable population (women, children, the disabled, and the elderly.) With $4.7 million in ERMA funding, ICRC substantially expanded its operations in Pakistan, particularly in insecure areas where the UN and other humanitarian agencies could not safely operate. ICRC ensured access to medical care, water and sanitation, and livelihoods in conjunction with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, and expanded its health program, including expansion of medical evacuations via air service and a new surgical hospital in Peshawar, in response to the increasing number of war-wounded.
| Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund (ERMA) | ||
| FY 2004-2008 | ||
| FY 2008 | ||
| ERMA Balance Carried Forward | 62,973,807 | |
| Appropriation | 45,000,000 | |
| Adjustment (rescission) | (364,500) | |
| FY 2008 Supplemental Appropriation | 31,000,000 | |
|
|
Total Available in Fiscal Year | 138,609,307 |
| DRAWDOWNS: | ||
| January 2008 | ||
|
|
Somalia | (10,000,000) |
|
|
DRC/Darfur/CAR | (4,000,000) |
|
|
Chad | (2,000,000) |
|
|
Mauritania | (2,000,000) |
|
|
West Bank/Gaza (UNRWA) | (14,000,000) |
| March 2008 | ||
|
|
Kenya | (4,900,000) |
| June 2008 | ||
|
|
Worldwide - Food | (13,000,000) |
|
|
Africa and Yemen | (19,800,000) |
| July 2008 | ||
|
|
Zimbabwe | (2,500,000) |
|
|
|
|
| August 2008 | ||
|
|
Georgia | (5,750,000) |
|
|
|
(77,950,000) |
|
|
Total Available as of 9/30/08 | 60,659,307 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| FY 2007 | ||
| ERMA Balance Carried Forward | 11,688,807 | |
| Appropriation | 55,000,000 | |
| FY 2007 Supplemental Appropriation | 55,000,000 | |
|
|
Total Available in Fiscal Year | 121,688,807 |
| DRAWDOWNS: | ||
| December 2006 | ||
|
|
Somalia | (3,575,000) |
|
|
Sri Lanka | (1,640,000) |
| May 2007 | ||
|
|
West Bank/Gaza (UNRWA) | (10,000,000) |
|
|
Africa - Food | (7,400,000) |
|
|
Somalia | (4,500,000) |
|
|
Chad | (1,000,000) |
|
|
Darfur | (6,600,000) |
| September 2007 | ||
|
|
Iraq | (12,000,000) |
|
|
Lebanon (UNRWA) | (10,000,000) |
|
|
Sri Lanka | (2,000,000) |
|
|
|
(58,715,000) |
|
|
Total Available as of 9/30/07 | 62,973,807 |
|
|
|
|
| FY 2006 | ||
| ERMA Balance Carried Forward | 28,214,502 | |
| Appropriation | 30,000,000 | |
| Adjustment (recoveries) | 274,305 | |
| Adjustment (rescission) | (300,000) | |
|
|
Total Available in Fiscal Year | 58,188,807 |
| DRAWDOWNS: | ||
| November 2005 | ||
|
|
Pakistan | (5,000,000) |
| May 2006 | ||
|
|
DRC | (12,000,000) |
|
|
Africa - Food | (3,000,000) |
|
|
Burundi | (2,000,000) |
|
|
Somalia | (3,000,000) |
|
|
UNHCR - IDPs | (8,000,000) |
| August 2006 | ||
|
|
Lebanon | (13,500,000) |
|
|
|
(46,500,000) |
|
|
Total Available as of 9/30/06 | 11,688,807 |
| FY 2005 | ||
| ERMA Balance Carried Forward | 41,154,502 | |
| Appropriation | 30,000,000 | |
| Adjustment (rescission) | (240,000) | |
|
|
Total Available in Fiscal Year | 70,914,502 |
| DRAWDOWNS: | ||
| October 2004 | ||
|
|
Burundi | (8,000,000) |
| March 2005 | ||
|
|
West Bank/Gaza (UNRWA) | (20,000,000) |
|
|
Burundi | (10,000,000) |
|
|
DRC | (4,700,000) |
|
|
|
(42,700,000) |
|
|
Total Available as of 9/30/05 | 28,214,502 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| FY 2004 | ||
| ERMA Balance Carried Forward | 77,331,502 | |
| Appropriation | 30,000,000 | |
| Adjustment (rescission) | (177,000) | |
| Total Available in Fiscal Year - Unapportioned | 107,154,502 | |
| Apportioned/Unallocated URC Carried Forward | 245,000 | |
| Total Available in Fiscal Year | 107,399,502 | |
| DRAWDOWNS: |
|
|
| February 2004 | ||
|
|
Chad | (9,300,000) |
| Sudan | (2,700,000) | |
|
|
West Bank/Gaza (UNRWA) | (20,000,000) |
|
|
|
|
| June 2004 | ||
|
|
West Bank/Gaza (UNRWA) | (20,000,000) |
|
|
Chad | (9,000,000) |
|
|
Sudan | (5,000,000) |
|
|
|
(66,000,000) |
|
|
URC for Haiti (remainder of URC funds) | (245,000) |
|
|
Total Available as of 9/30/04 | 41,154,502 |
|
|
|
|
FY 2010Bureau Strategic PlanSummary |
Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration |
| INDICATORS | |||
| 1) Percentage of PRM-funded projects that include activities that focus on prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV). | |||
| 2007 | Result: 27.5% | ||
|
2008 |
Target: 33% |
SLIGHTLY BELOW TARGET Although results did not show improvement, PRM funding for GBV refugee assistance programs increased to $6.3 million in FY 2008. Funding availability for IOs and NGOs limited the extent to which GBV could be mainstreamed into multi-sectoral programs. |
|
| Result: 27.5% | |||
| 2009 | Target: 33% | ||
| 2010 | Target: 35% | ||
| 2) Percentage of countries with zero credible reports of refoulement (involuntary return to a place where there is risk of persecution.) | |||
| 2007 | Result: 71% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of asylum-seekers. 83% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of refugees. | ||
| 2008 | Target: 73% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of asylum-seekers. 77% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of refugees. | ABOVE TARGET | |
| Result: 74% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of asylum-seekers. 83% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of refugees. | |||
| 2009 | Target: 75% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of asylum-seekers. 80% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of refugees. | ||
| 2010 | Target: 75% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of asylum-seekers. 83% of countries have zero credible reports of refoulement of refugees. | ||
| 3) Number of countries with effective registration capacity of UNHCR in refugee situations. | |||
| 2007 | Result: ProGres registration system implemented with three governments and three partners. | ||
| 2008 | Target: 10 governments or partners operate proGres registration system alone or jointly with UNHCR. | ON TARGET | |
| Result: ProGres implemented with nine governments and three partners; 15 operations or governments are using proGres to issue refugee ID cards. | |||
| 2009 | Target: 12 governments or partners use proGres registration system alone or jointly with UNHCR. | ||
| 2010 | Target: 14 governments or partners use proGres registration system alone or jointly with UNHCR. | ||
GOAL 2: AssistanceSave lives and alleviate the suffering of refugees, returning refugees, conflict victims, and in some cases, internally displaced persons, by providing life sustaining goods and services at internationally accepted standards. PRM’s assistance is provided on the basis of need according to principles of universality, impartiality, and human dignity while fostering a transition from relief to development. |
GOAL 1: Protection & Durable SolutionsEnsure respect for the rights and safety of refugees, conflict victims, stateless persons, and, in some cases, internally displaced persons in accordance with international humanitarian, human rights, and refugee laws. Our primary goals are to: prevent refoulement (involuntary return of refugees or asylum seekers to a place where their lives or freedom would be threatened), promote access to asylum, ensure humanitarian access, enhance physical protection (especially for women, children, and other vulnerable populations), uphold human dignity, and achieve durable solutions.
|
| INDICATORS | ||
| 1) Percentage of targeted refugee sites where Crude Mortality Rates (CMR) do not exceed emergency thresholds. | ||
| 2007 | Result: In complex humanitarian crises, CMR did not exceed regional emergency thresholds in 100% of targeted sites. | |
| 2008 | Target: In complex humanitarian crises, CMR does not exceed regional emergency thresholds in 95% of targeted sites. In stable refugee settings, CMR does not exceed 1.5 per 1,000 per month (0.5/10,000/day) in 90% of targeted sites. | ABOVE TARGET |
| Result: In complex humanitarian crises, CMR did not exceed regional emergency thresholds in 100% of targeted sites. In stable refugee settings, CMR did not exceed 1.5 per 1,000 per month (0.5/10,000/day) in 98% of targeted sites. | ||
| 2009 | Target: In complex humanitarian crises, CMR does not exceed regional emergency thresholds in 95% of targeted sites. In stable refugee settings, CMR does not exceed 1.5 per 1,000 per month (0.5/10,000/day) in 92% of targeted sites. | |
| 2010 | Target: In complex humanitarian crises, CMR does not exceed regional emergency thresholds in 96% of targeted sites. In stable refugee settings, CMR does not exceed 1.5 per 1,000 per month (0.5/10,000/day) in 93% of targeted sites. | |
| 2) Percentage of targeted refugee sites where Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in children under age five does not exceed 10%. | ||
| 2007 | Result: In 91% of targeted refugee sites, less than 10% of children under five suffered from global acute malnutrition. | |
| 2008 | Target: In 92% of targeted refugee sites, less than 10% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition. In 90% of non-emergency settings with stable refugee populations, less than 5% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition. |
SLIGHTLY BELOW TARGET/ ABOVE TARGET |
| Result: In 91% of targeted refugee sites, less than 10% of children under five suffered from global acute malnutrition. In 94% of non-emergency settings with stable refugee populations, less than 5% of children under five suffered from global acute malnutrition. | ||
| 2009 | Target: In 92% of targeted refugee sites, less than 10% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition. In 94% of non-emergency settings with stable refugee populations, less than 5% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition. | |
| 2010 |
Target: In 93% of targeted refugee sites, less than 10% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition. In 95% of non-emergency settings with stable refugee populations, less than 5% of children under five suffer from global acute malnutrition
|
|
GOAL 3: U.S. Refugee Admissions ProgramThe goals of the Admissions program are to ensure that: · Eligible refugees in need of protection are offered the durable solution of resettlement to the United States or other resettlement countries; · The annual refugee admissions ceiling for the U.S. is based on a valid assessment of the number of refugees at risk overseas and U.S. capacity to respond; · The U.S. government admits as many refugees as possible within the regionally allocated ceilings determined annually by the President; · The Bureau provides support and influence so that UNHCR maintains a strong capacity to identify and refer refugees in need of resettlement; · Relevant U.S. government agencies make the most efficient use of available resources to maximize benefits to refugees; · Security, health, and anti-fraud measures are fully implemented in refugee processing; · Refugees approved by DHS and otherwise admissible are moved to the U.S. as quickly as possible; · Standardized essential services are provided by a nationwide network of sponsoring agencies to recently resettled refugees, so that they can begin the process of becoming self-sufficient, fully integrated members of U.S. society. |
| INDICATOR | ||
| 1) Percentage of Refugees Admitted to the U.S. against the Regional Ceiling Established by Presidential Determination | ||
| 2007 | Result: Of regionally allocated ceilings totaling 50,000 refugees, 97% were admitted. | |
| 2008 | Target: 100% of regionally allocated ceilings totaling 70,000 refugees. |
SLIGHTLY BELOW TARGET In FY 2008, the U.S. admitted 60,192 refugees for resettlement, a 25% increase over the FY 2007 admissions level. This achievement included the arrival of 13,823 Iraqi refugees, almost an eight-fold increase over the number of Iraqi refugees admitted to the U.S. in FY 2007. |
| Result: Of regionally allocated ceilings totaling 70,000 refugees, 60,192 (or 86%) were admitted. | ||
| 2009 | Target: 100% of regionally allocated ceilings totaling 75,000 refugees. | |
| 2010 |
Target: 100% of regionally allocated ceilings to be established by the President before the beginning of FY 2010.
|
|
|
GOAL 4: Humanitarian Migrants to Israel Provide support to the United Israel Appeal through which Jews in distress throughout the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Near East, and other countries are resettled to Israel and are provided assistance to achieve self-sufficiency and integrate into Israeli society. The United Israel Appeal is the only U.S. organization with a resettlement program in Israel. |
| INDICATORS | ||
| 1) Availability and quality of mandatory services to eligible humanitarian migrants. Mandatory services are defined as care and processing en route, transport to Israel, and transitional housing. | ||
| 2007 | Result: 100% of eligible migrants received mandatory services under grant; and 98% of program participants were satisfied with these services. | |
| 2008 | Target: 100% of eligible migrants receive mandatory services under grant; and at least 90% of program participants are satisfied with these services. | ABOVE TARGET |
| Result: 100% of eligible migrants received mandatory services under grant; and 94% of program participants were satisfied with these services | ||
| 2009 | Target: 100% of eligible migrants receive mandatory services under grant; and at least 90% of program participants are satisfied with these services. | |
| 2010 | Target: 100% of eligible migrants receive mandatory services under grant; and at least 95% of program participants are satisfied with these services. | |
|
2) Humanitarian migrants are provided with effective Hebrew language training. |
||
| 2007 | Result: 93% of language trainees from Newly Independent States advanced a full grade level within the specified period (five months) and 60% of language trainees from Ethiopia advanced a full grade level within the specified period (ten months). | |
| 2008 | Target: 90% of language trainees from Newly Independent States advance a full grade level within the specified period (five months) and 75% of language trainees from Ethiopia advance a full grade level within the specified period (ten months). |
ABOVE TARGET/ BELOW TARGET |
| Result: 96% of language trainees from Newly Independent States advanced a full grade level within the specified period (five months) and 54% of language trainees from Ethiopia advance a full grade level within the specified period (ten months). | ||
| 2009 | Target: 90% of language trainees from Newly Independent States advance a full grade level within the specified period (five months) and 75% of language trainees from Ethiopia advance a full grade level within the specified period (ten months). | |
| 2010 |
Target: 90% of language trainees from Newly Independent States advance a full grade level within the specified period (five months) and 75% of language trainees from Ethiopia advance a full grade level within the specified period (ten months).
|
|
|
GOAL 5: Migration Management Build the capacity of governments and civil society for effective, orderly, and humane migration management policies and systems at the national and regional levels, including programs and activities to protect and assist vulnerable migrants such as asylum seekers and victims of trafficking in persons.
|
| INDICATORS | ||
| 1) Trafficking in Persons: Percentage of foreign governments with PRM-funded anti-trafficking projects that have increased their activities to combat TIP. Activities include but are not limited to: (1) Making new budget allocations or continuing budget allocations directed toward anti-trafficking; and/or (2) Developing new legislation to combat trafficking; and/or (3) Providing in-kind support or facilitating program activities. | ||
| 2007 | Result: 85.7% of foreign governments with projects funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) increased their activities to combat trafficking in persons. | |
| 2008 | Target: 80% of foreign governments with projects funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) increase their activities to combat trafficking in persons. | ABOVE TARGET |
| Result: 92% of foreign governments with projects funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) increased their activities to combat trafficking in persons. | ||
| 2009 | Target: 80% of foreign governments with projects funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) increase their activities to combat trafficking in persons. | |
| 2010 | Target: 82% of foreign governments with projects funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) increase their activities to combat trafficking in persons | |
|
2) Regional Dialogues: Percentage of initiatives at Regional Migration Dialogues that are implemented. |
||
| 2007 | Result: 80% of activities agreed to by member states of the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM) in FY 2007 have been implemented or are in the process of implementation. Over 90% of the activities agreed upon by members of the Intergovernmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies (IGC) in FY 2007 have been implemented or are in the process of implementation. | |
| 2008 | Target: 80% of activities agreed to in the dialogues are implemented. | ABOVE TARGET |
| Result: 82% of activities agreed to in the dialogues were implemented | ||
| 2009 | Target: 80% of activities agreed to in the dialogues are implemented. | |
| 2010 |
Target: 82% of activities agreed to in the dialogues are implemented.
|
|
GOAL 6: PopulationAdvances USG interests in bilateral and multilateral fora dealing with population and development issues. |
| INDICATOR | ||
| 1) Percent increase from 2005 in population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy. (The percentage of population-related resolutions negotiated that contained language in keeping with USG population policy was 60% in FY 2005.) | ||
| 2007 | Result: There was a 5% increase from FY 2005 in the number of population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy. | |
| 2008 | Target: 6% increase from FY 2005 in population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy. | ON TARGET |
| 2008 | Result: 6% increase from FY 2005 in population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy | |
| 2009 | Target: 8% increase from FY 2005 in population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy. | |
| 2010 |
Target: 9% increase from FY 2005 in population-related resolutions negotiated that contain language in keeping with USG population policy.
|
|
GOAL 7: Managing Human & Programmatic ResourcesPRM monitors and evaluates its program and personnel requirements and resources to ensure that they efficiently and effectively support the Department’s transformational diplomacy agenda. |
| INDICATOR | ||
| 1) Monitoring & Evaluation: Percentage of funding that is monitored and evaluated (M&E) by PRM staff through formal reporting channels (i.e., reporting cables, official memos and/or e-mails.) | ||
| 2007 | Result: 87.5% of funding to NGO and other international organization* programs was monitored and evaluated (M&E) by program officers and refugee coordinators through formal reporting channels. | |
| 2008 | Target: 75% of funding to NGO and other international organization* programs is monitored and evaluated (M&E) by program officers and refugee coordinators through formal reporting channels. |
BELOW TARGET Some programs supported with Supplemental funds received near the end of the fiscal year could not be monitored during the fiscal year but would be monitored later in the project period. |
| Result: 70% of funding to NGO and other international organization* programs was monitored and evaluated (M&E) by program officers and refugee coordinators through formal reporting channels. | ||
| 2009 | Target: 80% of funding to NGO and other international organization* programs is monitored and evaluated (M&E) by program officers and refugee coordinators through formal reporting channels. | |
| 2010 |
Result: 85% of funding to NGO and other international organization* programs is monitored and evaluated (M&E) by program officers and refugee coordinators through formal reporting channels.
|
|
*Other international organizations include those that are not primary PRM partners (PRM’s primary partners are UNHCR, ICRC, UNRWA, and IOM).
