Although the United States has traditionally taken the lead in admitting refugees, we cannot deal with this difficult problem alone. This is a worldwide problem, and other nations must share the responsibility in assisting some of these refugees. Mr. Chairman, I know that we are all deeply concerned about all refugees and am pleased to have an opportunity to review these issues with the witnesses here today. I look forward to their testimony. WELCOME TO WITNESSES Senator KENNEDY. Mr. Eagleburger is accompanied by Ambassador Jewel Lafontant-Mankarious, the U.S. Coordinator for Refugee Affairs, and Ambassador Warren Zimmermann, who is appearing for the first time as the new Director of the Department's Bureau of Refugee Programs. I had the privilege of meeting Ambassador Zimmermann a few years ago in Moscow when he was stationed in the Embassy there, and we welcome him to his challenging new assignment and look forward to working with him, as we did with Ambassador Princeton Lyman. We also want to welcome Commissioner Gene McNary of the Immigration Service, and Ms. Donna Givens, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Administration for Children and Families in HHS. We welcome you all. I understand Secretary Eagleburger will open, and then a brief comment by Ambassador Mankarious, and the other statements will be submitted for the record. So I am pleased to welcome Deputy Secretary Lawrence Eagleburger. He is here today as the Acting Secretary of State. That word "acting" seems to have a much more meaningful ring to it today than it did a few days ago. We are not going to ask Mr. Eagleburger to define "acting" or give us his latest job description, but we are very, very appreciative of his presence here and we look forward to his testimony. STATEMENT OF HON. LAWRENCE S. EAGLEBURGER, ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE, ACCOMPANIED BY AMBASSADOR JEWEL LAFONTANT-MANKARIOUS, U.S. COORDINATOR FOR REFUGEE AFFAIRS; AMBASSADOR WARREN ZIMMERMANN, DIRECTOR, BUREAU FOR REFUGEE PROGRAMS, DEPARTMENT OF STATE; GENE MCNARY, COMMISSIONER, IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE; AND DONNA GIVENS, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Mr. EAGLEBURGER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am Acting Secretary because Secretary Baker is out of town. He is returning on Sunday and I expect thereafter to be Deputy Secretary for some period of time. I am pleased to appear today regarding the President's proposal for the admission of 132,000 refugees to the United States in fiscal year 1993. I believe that the committee has already received a report which provides the detailed information required by the Refugee Act. Because the timing of these consultations has previously been an issue of some concern, we welcome the fact that the administration and the Congress were able to arrange a date for this hearing well in advance of September 30. Before turning to the refugee admissions program, I would like to comment briefly on current trends and future directions in U.S. refugee policy. The image of the refugee, the individual seeking to escape from persecution to freedom, stood among the most powerful symbols of the cold war era. The end of the cold war has thus had a positive effect on a number of serious, longstanding refugee situations. Vol untary repatriation, which is the most desirable and durable solution for refugees, has now become possible for hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans, Cambodians, Angolans, and Afghans. Elsewhere in the world, there is reason to believe that a large number of the world's 16 million refugees may be able to return home over the next few years. Unfortunately, however, the end of the cold war has also brought new problems in certain parts of the world. Two noteworthy examples are in Nagorno-Karabakh and Bosnia-Hercegovina. Tragically, in these places tyranny at the hands of the state has been replaced by violent manifestations of long-simmering ethnic and religious hatreds. TRAGEDY OF SARAJEVO We are all appalled at televised footage of innocent people being massacred while attempting to buy bread in Sarajevo, the city that was celebrated during the 1984 Olympic games for having achieved social harmony within ethnic diversity. It is hard to imagine that so much could change in just 8 short years. Having served as the United States Ambassador to what was once Yugoslavia, I am deeply saddened to see that utter madness and chaos now reign in what could well have been one of the success stories of the postcold war period. Of course, the United States is participating in efforts under the authority of the United Nations Security Council to ensure that humanitarian relief is delivered to Bosnia-Hercegovina. This includes the use of military aircraft to bring vital supplies to Saraje VO. CRISIS IN HAITI Close to home, since the September 1991 coup in Haiti, we have been working for the restoration of democratic government in that country. But in recent months, the number of Haitians intercepted by the United States Coast Guard increased dramatically. As a temporary measure, we utilized the United States naval facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as an asylum prescreening facility. However, it soon became apparent that the Guantanamo operation was itself serving as a magnet and the number of Haitian migrants had outstripped our capacity to accommodate them at the base. When our attempts to identify additional screening locations in the region were unsuccessful and the situation remained untenable, the President, on May 24, issued an Executive order which instructed the Coast Guard to return interdicted Haitians directly to Haiti where refugee processing is available to them. We continue to be hopeful that the various Haitian factions can negotiate a democratic political solution. The United States has and will continue to play an active role both financially and politically in promoting refugee repatriation. However, a significant level of international cooperation and support must be forthcoming if these opportunities are not to be lost. As we have experienced in Southeast Asia with the comprehensive plan of action, once it becomes clear that third country reset tlement will not be an option for those not found to be refugees, increasing numbers of asylum seekers decide to return home. We have also learned in Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere that followup and close attention to the needs of those who have returned is absolutely critical. For example, demining, though both dangerous and costly, is essential if Cambodians, Salvadorans, and Angolans are to return home safely. PROBLEMS OF MINES IN REPATRIATION PROGRAMS Senator KENNEDY. Could I just interrupt there? Senator KENNEDY. This is an enormously important issue. In my conversations with a number of those involved at the United Nations and with international agencies, they constantly underline the importance of demining programs, and I am just wondering what steps are being taken by the administration to address this problem and what ways we can be more helpful? I am a member of the Armed Services Committee, and most of our efforts in demining were in NATO. We are doing more at the present time, with the authorization we passed last year. But I am just wondering what more can be done with the Defense Department in this area. I am sure you are very familiar where we had outstanding examples of United States military intervention in Bangladesh and northern Iraq and border areas of Turkey, with positive success. I would be interested in whatever brief comment you want to make now, but if you would maybe let us know how we can be more helpful and give an indication to me of what we are doing in this area, I would very much appreciate it. Mr. EAGLEBURGER. It is a very good point, Mr. Chairman. Let me just interject very briefly and then I will get you more. Senator KENNEDY. Fine. Mr. EAGLEBURGER. The area I am most familiar with, having just come back from a conference in Tokyo on Cambodian relief, is the Cambodian effort, and there a good bit of money, ours and others, has been put into paying for experts to go in and do the demining, and the demining issue in Cambodia is horrendous. It is awful, and no matter how much money and how many people we put into it, it is going to take a long time to clean that area out. But we have put a good bit of money into it, and interestingly enough my understanding, at least, there is a good bit of expertise available to do the land demining. It is simply a question of finding funds to pay for it. Now, having said that—and I am not familiar as much with what is going on in Salvador and Angola, and so forth. Senator KENNEDY. And Afghanistan. Mr. EAGLEBURGER. There will be some things with regard to the Defense Department that we can do, and let me get back to you with that. Senator KENNEDY. Thank you. [The information referred to can be found in the appendix.] IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE Mr. EAGLEBURGER. Roads and irrigation systems must be rebuilt in Afghanistan, and only through the rehabilitation and development of the economic infrastructure can Ethiopia hope to repatriate its nationals and avoid repeated outflows of returning refugees unable to survive on the local economy. Indeed, we have learned that cooperation between refugee and development agencies is absolutely required if repatriation is to be successful. In addition, the international community has recognized that response mechanisms must be appropriate to the circumstances which create refugees. The lessons learned from the Iraqi refugee crisis have led to improvement in UNHCR's response capabilities. Plans have been put in place to ensure that UNHCR and external staff resources are available for immediate assignment to an emergency. Draft agreements to allow the efficient and expeditious involvement of NGO's have been prepared, and a stockpile of items commonly needed in a refugee crisis is being created. To enhance U.N. coordination further, late last year in the context of efforts by the United States and other countries to reform the United Nations, the position of Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Assistance was established, along with a $50 million emergency revolving fund. We have already begun to reap the benefit of these initiatives in dealing with the flow of Somalis into Kenya and Burmese-I can't possibly pronounce the name-Rohingyas into Bangladesh, as well as with the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. The international community is also utilizing its prior experience in an effort to prevent future refugee crises. UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration have been working with the new governments of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to provide needed technical and legal training for dealing with refugees, displaced persons, and migrants. The United States has actively promoted and participated in these multilateral initiatives. We also believe that our own national experience of ethnic and cultural diversity is worthy of sharing with others. Through a series of onsite technical assistance projects, we are exposing relevant officials of the new governments in the former Soviet bloc to the roles of public and private sector institutions in the field of refugees and migration. Regarding the U.S. refugee admissions program, if current trends continue, and barring major unforeseen developments CRISIS IN SOMALIA Senator KENNEDY. Just before going, I am sure you are familiar with the very moving and compelling testimony of our colleague in the Senate, Nancy Kassebaum, who has just recently visited Somalia, and you saw today's editorial in the New York Times. Jane Purlitz of the New York Times reports that a third of Somalia's 4.5 million people are likely to starve to death within 6 months. I am going to put Senator Kassebaum's full statement in the record, but it is an enormously moving account and desperate situation. [The statement of Senator Kassebaum follows:] |