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US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
93/09/23 Testimony on Refugee Admissions
Office of the Spokesman
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
STATEMENT OF
THE HONORABLE WARREN CHRISTOPHER
SECRETARY OF STATE
BEFORE THE
SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
SEPTEMBER 23, 1993
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am very pleased to appear before the Committee today to outline the
President's proposal for the admission of 120,000 refugees to the United
States in fiscal year 1994. I believe the Committee has already
received a report that provides detailed information about refugee
admissions as required by the Refugee Act. It is our hope that the 1994
refugee admissions program will receive the broad bipartisan support
from the Congress that it has received in the past.
Before turning specifically to the refugee admissions program, however,
I would like to comment briefly on the past year's world-wide refugee
situation, current trends, and the future direction of U.S. refugee
policy.
Positive political changes in several parts of the world have reduced
the "push" factor -- the conditions that impel people to leave their
countries -- and increased the "pull" factor -- the conditions that
cause people to return home -- making significant refugee repatriation
possible. In Cambodia, a major repatriation effort, directed by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), resulted in the
return of all 370,000 persons from camps along the Thai-Cambodian
border. An internationally-sanctioned election in May of this year
provides the best hope for stability in Cambodia and will enable
repatriated refugees to re-build their society. In Afghanistan and
Central America, refugees continue to return home, and, following a
political settlement in Mozambique, upwards of 200,000 refugees have
returned home spontaneously in the past year.
For the first time in almost two years, there is hope that respect for
human rights and democracy will be restored to Haiti. The recent
signing of the Governor's Island accords and the installation of Prime
Minister Malval are not only a victory for democracy throughout the
hemisphere, but a major accomplishment for the international community,
which acted together and firmly on this issue. The return of
constitutional government and the resumption of economic development
will help put an end to the despair that has caused so many Haitians to
leave their country.
The prospects for peace in the Middle East have never been brighter.
The agreement that was signed in Washington on September 13 is the first
step in a process that will address the needs of the Palestinian
refugees. We are only at the beginning, and much work will have to be
done, but the foundations have been laid. It is the responsibility of
the United States and the rest of the international community to help
the Palestinians and the Israelis continue the peace process.
On the other hand, genuine human tragedies in the former Yugoslavia and
the Horn of Africa -- tragedies that are creating thousands of refugees
-- continue unabated. Of special concern is the devastation that has
occurred in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This tragic conflict has taken a
terrible human toll and threatens the stability of the entire region.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, we continue our efforts to assist the more than 4
million displaced persons and refugees in the area. The United States
has contributed over $350 million to the relief effort. We continue to
look for ways and means to increase assistance. We are very concerned
about the shortage of both funding and food for the United Nations
agencies working in the former Yugoslavia. Under almost any scenario,
the problems of food and shelter as winter impends will be a major
challenge to the international community. We are encouraging
multilateral action, especially on the part of European countries, which
we believe have a special responsibility for providing humanitarian
assistance to the region.
Migration
Our policy addresses refugees from the warfare in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
the political instability in Haiti, and the conflicts in Africa such as
the one in southern Sudan. But there is also overall migration of
persons around the world as the result of population pressures, poverty,
environmental degradation and other factors. While we seek to ensure
protection for those who are fleeing persecution, we must be resolute in
our efforts to make it possible for would-be migrants to opt to remain
at home. This Administration's determination to spur world economic
growth -- through efforts such as NAFTA -- will help. So will our
assistance on global issues such as population and the environment.
While legal immigration, including the resettlement of legitimate
refugees, enriches our country, it is important to reduce illegal
immigration. The President has already taken significant steps and has
placed proposals before the Congress to address more effectively illegal
immigration to the United States. Improvements include increasing
border control resources, improving visa issuance procedures,
expeditiously repatriating illegal and criminal aliens and increasing
criminal penalties for alien smuggling. At the same time, we will seek
to ensure protection for genuine refugees.
New Approaches to Refugee Assistance
Ten years ago there were approximately 8 million refugees worldwide; now
there are an estimated 18 million. We are faced with complex
humanitarian emergencies. Ten years ago, most of those assisted had
crossed an international border to become refugees; now many populations
receiving assistance are displaced persons still within their national
borders, and others are conflict victims still in their homes. This
complicates relief efforts -- and also creates security problems for the
UN and NGO personnel engaged in relief -- as we have seen all too often
in Bosnia and Somalia.
The United Nations system, through the Department of Humanitarian
Affairs (DHA), has begun to move more effectively to coordinate its
emergency relief activities in complex emergencies, and we have seen the
active cooperation of UN agencies in the field. UNHCR, the World Food
Program, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization have taken measures
to improve their emergency response capabilities. All have played an
important role in the emergency in Bosnia. Further work is needed, in
particular the coordination of humanitarian activities with peace-
keeping and political affairs at UN Headquarters. Enhancing such
coordination is an important foreign policy objective for the Clinton
Administration.
In responding to large-scale refugee emergencies, we believe that two
objectives must be pursued simultaneously: (l) humanitarian assistance
and protection for those in need, and (2) durable solutions, especially
conflict resolution and repatriation when conditions permit. We must
recognize that third-country resettlement, while an appropriate and
important option in many cases, is not a realistic alternative for the
large majority of the world's nearly 18 million refugees. The
international community does have resources, however, to provide all
refugees with basic protection and assistance, and that is a critical
U.S. refugee policy goal.
Refugee Admissions
As reported before this Committee last year, current trends indicate
that barring any unforeseen circumstances, the number of persons
requiring permanent resettlement in the United States should decline
significantly in the next few years. By the end of this fiscal year, we
will have met our commitment to resettle in the United States all known
and eligible Amerasian children and their families from Vietnam. Within
the next two years, we anticipate that all eligible Vietnamese re-
education camp prisoners, that is, those interned for more than three
years because of their association with the U.S., will have entered the
U.S. We also expect that within the next two years, we will need to
bring the Soviet refugee admissions program into conformity with
emerging realities in the former Soviet Union. In the future, in
concert with the international community, the U.S. will continue, albeit
on a smaller scale, to resettle our fair share of those refugees who
have no alternative to resettlement. We will also continue to expand
our assistance to vulnerable persons identified by the UNHCR as persons
in need of third-country resettlement.
I would like to address for a moment the recent expressions of concern
in the Congress and the press about the resettlement of Iraqi refugees
in the United States. First, no one is resettled in the United States
without demonstrating a well-founded fear of persecution. Many of these
Iraqi refugees have credible accounts of torture and abuse. Second,
many of the Iraqi conscripts held little enthusiasm for the war and fled
their country early on -- sometimes at the behest of the allied forces.
These deserters actively opposed the regime and formed the corps of
freedom fighters who refused to participate in the invasion of Kuwait
and fought to overthrow Saddam in March of 1991. Many were themselves
members of persecuted ethnic or religious minority groups.
We fully recognize that members of Congress would like the reassurance
that our government will not resettle Iraqi soldiers who took up arms
against our country, and we are prepared to explore additional
safeguards to ensure against U.S. entry of those whose activities might
have been inimical to U.S. interests. However, all available evidence,
including a just completed file review of several hundred recent cases,
indicates that all accepted applicants were deserving beneficiaries of
this humanitarian effort. Those who fail to meet our rigorous criteria
are not admitted for resettlement. It is an honorable policy, in full
accord with the American tradition.
The President's proposal for fiscal year 1994 permits the funded
admission of 120,000 refugees -- a reduction of 2,000 from the current
fiscal year. I am pleased to report that as part of this year's
consultations process, improved high level coordination between State
and HHS has permitted us to ensure that sufficient funds will be
available to cover the costs of resettlement of up to 120,000 refugees.
Since 1990, separate regional ceilings have been used for the former
Soviet Union and for Eastern Europe. However, given the crisis in the
former Yugoslavia and the need for maximum flexibility in refugee
admissions processing, particularly for Bosnians, we propose to
recombine these two ceilings for fiscal year 1994.
We propose that the 120,000 admissions numbers be divided as follows:
East Asia -- 45,000; Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe -- 55,000;
Near East/South Asia -- 6,000; Africa -- 7,000; and Latin
America/Caribbean -- 4,000. In addition, we have included an
unallocated reserve of 3,000 numbers, up from 1,000 numbers in fiscal
year 1993, which, after consultation with Congress, could be used in
regions where allocated numbers prove to be insufficient
In the past year, we initiated or improved several refugee admission
programs, most notably for Haitians and Bosnians. The week after
President Clinton's inauguration, a technical team composed of State
Department, INS and Congressional staff, travelled to Haiti at the
President's direction to determine ways to enhance in-country refugee
processing. That effort was in support of the President's commitment to
expand viable alternatives to perilous boat departures. Based upon the
team's recommendations, significant improvements to the program were
made. We doubled processing capacity, streamlined processing
procedures, opened two new refugee processing facilities, and expanded
access to those Haitians interdicted by the Coast Guard. Our policy
towards Haitian migrants and refugees is under continual review and we
will consult with Congress on this important issue as political
developments unfold.
As I stated earlier, the United States has committed a significant
amount of money and materiel to help Bosnians who are displaced within
Bosnia or have become refugees beyond its borders. We continue to
believe that assistance in place should be the primary focus of our
efforts. We do not believe that large-scale resettlement of refugees is
required at this time. However, we do believe that it is necessary to
admit certain groups of special humanitarian concern. For this reason,
we expanded the admission program to include several vulnerable groups
designated by UNHCR, as well as the Bosnian Muslim relatives of persons
in the United States. While we hope there will be a peace agreement
that will allow Bosnians to return home, we recognize that with little
warning, this program may have to be expanded further, and we are
willing to consider adjustments in processing guidelines to accommodate
additional cases of special humanitarian concern.
Conclusion
The U.S. refugee program has enjoyed broad bipartisan support over the
years. There is a great American tradition of providing refuge to the
persecuted. This tradition goes back to the founding of our nation. It
links generations of Americans to one another. It reinforces our
democratic values. Indeed, it is part of our national identity. Under
President Clinton's leadership, this noble tradition will continue.
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