The State Department web site below is a permanent electronic archive of information released prior to January 20, 2001.  Please see www.state.gov for material released since President George W. Bush took office on that date.  This site is not updated so external links may no longer function.  Contact us with any questions about finding information. NOTE: External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

U.S. Refugee Assistance

Fact sheet prepared by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, June 26, 1997.

The United States is the leading individual contributor of humanitarian assistance to refugees around the world.

Today, an estimated 26 million refugees and other displaced persons of concern are under the care and protection of the international community. Refugees and displaced persons do not choose to leave their homes. They are ordinary people--farmers, teachers, home-makers, schoolchildren, the very old, and the very young--who have been forced to flee their homes because of war, violence, and violations of human rights, often to countries which are extraordinarily poor themselves.

U.S. refugee policy emphasizes protection, life-sustaining assistance, and durable solutions, especially the voluntary repatriation of refugees when it is safe for them to go home. It is also based on the premise that the care of refugees and conflict victims and the pursuit of permanent solutions for refugee crises are shared international responsibilities.

Today, the United States funds programs providing assistance to refugees from Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Liberia, and many other places around the world. Most refugees need clean water, food, shelter, medical care, education for their children, and assistance to be self-sufficient where possible. The United States places great emphasis on the care and protection of refugee women and children who make up 80% of all refugees. When it is safe to do so, refugees need help returning to their homelands and reintegrating into their communities.

Congress appropriates funding annually to the Migration and Refugee Assistance Account for both overseas assistance activities and for the admission of refugees to the United States. In fiscal year 1997, the level of this appropriation is about $650 million,
$468 million of which is available for assistance programs overseas.

The funding is contributed primarily through international organizations. Chief among these are the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees which has a worldwide mandate to assist host governments to protect and care for refugees as well as to promote lasting solutions to refugee situations; the International Committee of the Red Cross, an independent, internationally funded, humanitarian institution mandated under the terms of the Geneva Convention to act as a neutral intermediary in armed conflict; the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the World Food Program, and the International Organization for Migration.

Assistance is also channeled through non-governmental organizations for special projects which support the work of international organizations or serve special refugee needs of concern to the United States.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration administers U.S. contributions to these assistance programs and closely monitors the policies and programs of all the international and non-governmental organizations it supports.

(###)

Return to the DOSFAN Home Page
This is an official U.S. Government source for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links does not imply endorsement of contents.