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19 June 2006
U.S. Doors Open for More Refugees on World Refugee Day
U.S. resettlement goals outlined, as world refugee numbers decline
Washington – Refugees caught up in years, sometimes decades, of strife soon will be resettled in the United States, according to an announcement June 19 from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
Officials made the announcement at a Washington press briefing in recognition of World Refugee Day, June 20.
Eight thousand Meskhetian Turks recently resettled in the United States, and 4,000 more are coming soon, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan.
“This is a group of people that basically has had no home since the end of the Second World War,” said Ryan. “So it’s a very protracted situation, and we‘re very glad to welcome them to the United States.”
Meskhetian Turks, a largely Muslim ethnic group, were deported by Josef Stalin from their native Georgia in 1944 to Uzbekistan. They encountered multiple displacements in the ensuing decades, and their status became further complicated by the break up of the Soviet Union. Many have integrated into other states of the Russian Federation but in a few areas they are denied citizenship and considered stateless.
Some 13,000 refugees from East Africa also will be resettled in the United States this year, Ryan said, notably groups displaced from Ethiopia, Burundi and Congo.
The United States will accept about 54,000 refugees for resettlement in 2006, officials said, more than any other country. Over the last 30 years, the United States has resettled 2.6 million refugees.
“The United States is by far our most valuable partner, resettling more refugees each year than all the other 18-or-so refugee resettlement countries combined,” said Wendy Young, of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the world’s foremost agency providing protection and support for people driven from their homelands.
WORLD REFUGEE DAY
UNHCR is at the forefront of World Refugee Day commemorations, in 2006 focused on the theme, “Hope.”
“It is also important that we not just think about refugees as victims, but that we also value their human capacity,” said Young. “We need to support the strength of refugee communities and help them to rebuild their lives, their homes and their societies.”
Young said the number of refugees under UNHCR care is now at its lowest point in a quarter century, down to 8.4 million, a decline of more than 1 million from 2004 to 2005. The decrease can be attributed to homeland returns for refugees in a number of world regions. More than 6 million have returned to their countries of origin in the last four years, notably in Afghanistan, Liberia, Burundi, Iraq and Angola.
A contrasting trend prohibits celebration of those figures, however. Young said the agency is concerned by increasing numbers of people known as “internally displaced persons.” They are not considered refugees under international law if they have not crossed an international border. But violence, regional and religious conflicts have driven millions of people from their villages and towns to camps or other uncertain circumstances.
REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT
UNHCR and the United States are working together to encourage other nations to increase support for this cause and open their borders to greater numbers of refugees.
“In Latin America we've seen a number of countries come forward to open the doors to resettlement,” said Young. Ryan added the United States also is willing to help provide technical training, to guide other nations in the development of programs and support systems to give refugees a new start in a new country.
The United States recently admitted six refugees from North Korea for resettlement, the first time it has done so. Reporters probed Ryan for a forecast on whether this initiative will increase, but received few specifics. Ryan said the State Department is unwilling to outline the policy toward a broader resettlement of North Korean refugees at this time.
She did say that U.S. law might allow the admission of “hundreds, if not thousands,” but gaining access to would-be refugees from North Korea to ascertain their suitability would be the larger problem.
Young said South Korea typically is able to offer long-term solutions to those fleeing North Korea, rather than have them resettle in a third country.
More information on the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration and a fact sheet on World Refugee Day 2006 are available on the department Web site.
More information on World Refugee Day is available on the UNHCR Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
