Table of Contents
Congressional Presentation Document

FY 2010

 

I. Recent Results and Current Priorities

 FY 2008 Results 2

FY 2009 Priorities 8

Table: PRM All Sources Funding FY 2008 – FY 2010

Chart: PRM Funding Over Time (All Sources 2000 – 2010)

Chart: Populations of Concern

 

II. Assistant Secretary’s Statement

FY 2010 Statement by Acting Assistant Secretary Samuel M. Witten

Table: FY 2010 MRA and ERMA Summaries

Chart: FY 2010 Budget Request

III. Migration and Refugee Assistance

Migration and Refugee Assistance Overview

Overseas Assistance

• Africa
• East Asia
• Europe
• Near East
• South Asia
• Western Hemisphere
• Strategic Global Priorities

Migration

Humanitarian Migrants to Israel

Refugee Admissions

 Administrative Expenses

 

IV. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance

Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Overview 45

Chart: ERMA Annual Drawdowns FY 2004 – FY 2008 48

 Table: ERMA History FY 2004 – 2008 49

V. Bureau Strategic Plan

Summary of Goals and Indicators 52

 

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Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration FY 2008 Results and FY 2009 Priorities

 

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.

2008 Results

 

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.

 

OVERSEAS ASSISTANCE

 

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

In FY 2008, through key operational partners, State/PRM’s assistance to refugees saved lives and reduced suffering by supporting programs that met or exceeded internationally-agreed upon standards for humanitarian assistance. Overseas assistance to refugees kept crude mortality rates below emergency thresholds in all monitored sites. State/PRM assistance also helped minimize the incidence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) – a key indicator of overall health and well-being – among refugee children. In 91% of monitored refugee sites, fewer than 10% of children under five suffered from global acute malnutrition. State/PRM funding and humanitarian engagement with other donors, operational partners, and host government authorities helped bring standards up to internationally-accepted levels with robust multi-sectoral programs. Improvements in health care, water and sanitation, food and nutrition, and shelter to Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, for example, led to a decline in GAM rates from 19.6% in 2005 to 8.6% in 2008. Despite its isolated and harsh environment, Kenya’s Dadaab camp also experienced a decline in GAM rates from 19.6% in 2005 to 10.9% in 2008, representing a significant improvement. In addition, infant mortality rates among refugees declined from 2005 to 2008 in Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. The incidence of malaria, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in refugee populations, was dramatically reduced from 2006 to 2008. Also notable is the marked increase from 2007 to 2008 of refugee mothers giving birth at health care facilities, reflecting improvements in maternal health services, from 11% to 94% in Ethiopia, from 33% to 75% in Kenya, and from 22% to 41% in eastern Sudan.

 

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

In 2008, the USG continued to be successful in promoting orderly and humane international migration and protecting vulnerable migrants such as victims of human trafficking through the State Department’s support to IOM programs and policy development. For example, xenophobic attacks in South Africa in early 2008 led to the displacement of tens of thousands of asylum seekers and other vulnerable migrants from Zimbabwe and other African countries. In response, with State/PRM funding, IOM provided 2,500 kits of essential non-food items and assisted migrants to return to their home countries. PRM support to IOM also included funding for anti-xenophobic information campaigns to raise awareness among South African law enforcement and other public officials about the rights of migrants and to help build host government capacity to improve service delivery to vulnerable migrants. IOM collaborated closely with UNHCR, who provided protection for asylum seekers.

State/PRM’s institutional support and capacity-building efforts for migration management in FY 2008 continued to promote regional migration dialogues to help developing countries effectively address the challenges presented by mixed migratory flows. In addition to providing the USG assessed contribution to IOM, PRM formulated and coordinated U.S. government policy positions related to IOM’s budget, management and operations to ensure that IOM continued to play a critical role in achieving USG goals to support refugee returns in safety and dignity, promote orderly and humane treatment of migrants, and facilitate refugee resettlement in the U.S. Recognizing a need for new leadership to improve overall management of the institution, the State Department organized a successful 2008 campaign to elect the U.S. candidate William Lacy Swing as the new Director General of IOM.

 

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.

In 2008, PRM continued to play an important role in combating trafficking in persons. Based on provisions in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), PRM supports the Family Reunification Program for Victims of Trafficking which reunites eligible family members with trafficking victims identified in the U.S. The TVPA also stipulates that trafficking victims who cooperate with law enforcement in the prosecution of the trafficker are eligible to remain in the United States and receive benefits (these benefits are provided by other USG agencies.) Through this program, IOM provides financial and logistical support for the travel of immediate family members in need of assistance. These family members are helped with travel documents, transportation arrangements, airport transit, and escorts for children. For trafficked persons who do not wish to remain in the U.S., the program works to ensure their safe return as well as reintegration assistance in home communities to help reduce the risk of re-trafficking. In FY 2008, this program facilitated the reunification of 134 family members with victims of trafficking in the United States, and assisted the return of seven survivors of trafficking to their country of origin, per their request.

The IOM Handbook on Performance Indicators for Counter-Trafficking Programs was completed and disseminated in 2008. State/PRM funded and worked closely with IOM since 2006 to develop this first-of-its-kind reference tool, which is a valuable resource for the USG and other stakeholders to assess and monitor the effectiveness and impact of programs to combat trafficking in persons.

PRM support for programs that prevent and respond to human trafficking elevates this important humanitarian issue with partner governments. To illustrate, 92% of foreign governments with projects funded by PRM in FY 2008 increased their activities to combat trafficking in persons.

Durable Solutions

Overseas assistance funds advanced durable solutions in 2008 by supporting the large scale return of refugees, in safety and dignity, to Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Mauritania, and Sudan. In 2008, PRM supported the voluntary repatriation of 277,000 Afghan refugees, 94,000 Burundian refugees, and 38,500 DRC refugees. The USG continued its strong support for refugee and IDP return and reintegration in southern Sudan. Some 62,000 Sudanese refugees returned to southern Sudan in 2008 – the highest level since organized repatriation began in 2005. Throughout 2008, UNHCR supported communities of return with water/sanitation, health care, shelter, and livelihoods while promoting a transition to self-reliance.

 

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

Through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the USG demonstrates its humanitarian leadership and the compassion of the American people for those in need. The United States continues to be the global resettlement leader, accepting more refugees than all other resettlement countries worldwide. Resettlement in the United States serves as an important protection tool for saving lives, ending persecution, and reuniting families. It is also an important foreign policy tool that permits the USG to help refugees for whom no other durable solution is available, and particularly to resolve protracted refugee situations.

Although the program is operationally more complicated than ever before, it clearly reflects the U.S. government’s commitment to diversifying refugee admissions: 65 nationalities were represented among refugees admitted to the U.S. in 2008. The admissions program continues to be responsive to varied and shifting worldwide refugee circumstances. As an example, the USG significantly expanded its capacity to resettle vulnerable Iraqi refugees in FY 2008. 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. An additional 438 Iraqi SIV beneficiaries were provided refugee benefits as a result of special authorizing legislation.

In total, the U.S. welcomed 60,192 refugees, representing a nearly 25% increase in refugee arrivals over FY 2007 and utilizing 86% of the regional ceilings established by Presidential Determination. This is the first year since September 11, 2001 that refugee admissions to the United States exceeded 60,000. This increase reflects the success of PRM and its partners in resolving 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.

 

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.

HUMANITARIAN MIGRANTS TO ISRAEL

Largely as a result of the Humanitarian Migrants to Israel (HMI) program’s success, the number of humanitarian migrants needing resettlement to Israel has decreased in recent years. The number of Jewish humanitarian migrants to Israel reached a height of nearly 400,000 in 1990. In FY 2008, 7,300 humanitarian migrants arrived in Israel through the program, including 5,400 migrants from the former Soviet Union and 1,580 migrants from Ethiopia. Humanitarian migrants were provided transportation, care, and maintenance en route to Israel from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and other countries. Once in Israel, they received assistance to transition to self reliance – education, language instruction, and vocational training. These programs maintained a high level of performance in FY 2008. 100% of eligible humanitarian migrants to Israel were provided with mandatory services, including care and processing en route, transport to Israel, and transitional housing. 94% of program participants were satisfied with these services. Concerning language instruction, 96% of humanitarian migrants from the former Soviet Union advanced a grade level within ten months. As the performance of language trainees from Ethiopia was below target, the United Israel Appeal (UIA), the organization that operates the HMI program, will prioritize language instruction for this population in FY 2009. 91% of Ethiopians participated in vocational training. With USG funding, 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. UIA demonstrated its efficiency by continuing to reduce the amount of time that migrants stayed at absorption centers, thereby reducing program costs.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE RESOURCES

PRM’s 130 U.S. direct hire staff, including 28 regional refugee coordinators stationed at U.S. Embassies around the world, as well as 54 locally engaged staff and eligible family members, demonstrate U.S. humanitarian leadership through diplomacy, policy development, and program management. These officers ensured that humanitarian programs were coordinated with other USG agencies including USAID, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Defense (including liaison to the new Africa Command), as well as other donors, and partners in the international community. Travel and training resources enabled PRM staff to assess humanitarian conditions, monitor funded programs, and liaise with key partners in the field. Funds supported an active and growing training curriculum on monitoring and evaluation for staff to better assess the impact of USG funds. Human resources were critical to emergency response in 2008. The Bureau deployed staff temporarily in response to crises in Gaza, Georgia, and Sri Lanka. In addition, teams in Washington worked with regional refugee coordinators to participate in contingency planning for the Caribbean and South Asia. Both program officers and refugee coordinators provided strong oversight of programs in order to ensure accountability and maximum benefit to beneficiary populations. PRM staff monitored at least 70% of the Bureau’s funding to NGO and other international organization (IO) projects. PRM’s strong program management resulted in 98% of NGOs and IOs funded by PRM taking corrective action within a year of receiving negative findings in financial audits.

 

FY 2009 Priorities

 

• Meet life-sustaining needs for refugees and victims of conflict by providing emergency relief based on need and according to principles of universality, impartiality, and human dignity, including refugees and conflict victims from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Chad/Darfur, Sri Lanka, the West Bank and Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Colombia, Burma, and Georgia.

 

• Through diplomatic intervention and targeted assistance, protect the most vulnerable from involuntary return, family separation, forcible recruitment into armed groups, exploitation, and other physical and legal threats. Specific protection priorities include combating gender-based violence, protecting and assisting victims of human trafficking, and preventing and reducing the incidences of statelessness.

 

• Support durable solutions to displacement, including large-scale, voluntary returns to southern Sudan, Burundi, the DRC, Mauritania, and Afghanistan, and plan for returns to Iraq. Ensure returns are sustainable by supporting reintegration programs in these areas as well as in West Africa where large-scale returns are winding down.

 

• Continue to diversify and expand the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, particularly by increasing refugee admissions processing for Iraqi, Bhutanese and Burmese refugees, and begin refugee admissions processing of Darfur refugees in eastern Chad. Provide refugee benefits to certain Iraqis and Afghans admitted to the U.S. under the Special Immigrant Visa program.

 

• Work with and support multilateral humanitarian organizations to ensure that global responses to emergencies are timely, accountable and effective in protecting and assisting those in need. Continue to encourage organizations to produce needs-based and prioritized budgets.

 

• Promote orderly and humane migration as a benefit to both sending, receiving and transit countries, by supporting regional consultations on migration, building capacity in countries to manage mixed migratory flows, and protecting and assisting vulnerable migrants.

 

• Advance USG policy goals on international population, family planning and reproductive health issues by advocating in multilateral forums for enhanced maternal and child health; promoting family planning and reducing the incidence of abortion; and expanding State/PRM interaction with USAID, other governments, international organizations and NGOs on these matters.

 

• Support the United Israel Appeal in its efforts to bring 7,400 humanitarian migrants to Israel and ensure that 17,825 migrants already in Israel receive education, language training and other services to assist in their integration into Israeli society.

 

• Provide good stewardship of USG resources by increasing the percentage of programs monitored and evaluated in order to ensure accountability, program effectiveness, and maximum benefit for beneficiaries, while at the same time exercising due diligence to ensure that USG resources are provided only to partners with no links to terrorist organizations.

 

 

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Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

FY 2010 Statement by
Acting Assistant Secretary Samuel M. Witten

 

Overview
Humanitarian assistance is the human face of U.S. foreign policy. Saving lives and championing human dignity reflect the highest values and best traditions of the American people. By providing humanitarian assistance according to principles of universality and impartiality – wherever needs exist – we demonstrate the compassion of the American people to address persecution and human suffering regardless of politics, religion, ethnicity, nationality or other affiliation. In addition, saving lives and upholding human dignity help to stabilize volatile situations and to prevent or mitigate demoralizing conditions that breed extremism and violence. In both emergencies and protracted situations, humanitarian assistance helps refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), stateless persons, vulnerable migrants and victims of conflict and trafficking meet their basic needs and enables them to contribute to rebuilding and transforming their countries. In so doing, humanitarian assistance plays an important role in the Secretary of State’s efforts to defuse regional conflicts and set the stage for responsible governance and economic development. While conflict and human rights abuses continue to present challenges to humanitarian operations, new factors such as urbanization are complicating humanitarian action.

 

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
Through diplomacy and assistance programs, State/PRM continues to support the USG’s strong humanitarian leadership on behalf of the American people. The Bureau is a key player in formulating, and advocating refugee and humanitarian policies within the Department, in the USG interagency, and in the international community. PRM provides USG contributions to and leads American engagement with multilateral partners including the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). State/PRM’s leadership reinforces the global multilateral response network and leverages significant contributions from other donors. PRM engagement in the governing bodies of these organizations is instrumental in bringing about UN management reforms that build a strong international humanitarian infrastructure and ensure accountability on behalf of beneficiaries and American taxpayers. For example, UNHCR is undertaking a historic downsizing of its headquarters and streamlining of operations. UNRWA is implementing sweeping reforms to strengthen program management and service delivery. These reforms, due largely to USG monitoring and oversight, have improved the transparency, predictability and accountability of international humanitarian response. MRA and ERMA resources for other international and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners complement multilateral contributions and fill critical gaps.

 

Emergency Response in Insecure Settings
The humanitarian operating environment is growing more complex and dangerous. The role of non-state actors is increasing, and these warring parties are less likely to respect basic humanitarian principles than states that have signed international legal conventions. Civilians – and often aid workers themselves – are increasingly targets in conflict. As humanitarian space shrinks, security costs associated with getting relief to those in need increase dramatically. All of PRM’s partners, whether working in overseas assistance or resettlement programs, are facing rising human and financial costs. In all cases, the Bureau exercises due diligence to ensure that in even the most insecure environments, USG funds are provided only to humanitarian partners with no links to terrorist organizations. As the U.S. military expands its role in humanitarian operations, it is essential to ensure that humanitarian assistance maintains its civilian character and adheres to principles of universality and impartiality. Along with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), PRM works with the Department of Defense (DOD) to increase its understanding of humanitarian issues, actors, and operations. The Bureau is also working with DOD, USAID and other State bureaus to help shape the establishment of an Africa Command (AFRICOM) and is involved in interagency contingency planning for a Caribbean mass migration response with Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among others. PRM will continue to play a significant role in strengthening communication and coordination links between international organization (IO) and NGO partners and the U.S. military. The Bureau will continue to work with USAID and the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS) to bolster USG response capacity.

 

Innovative Approaches to Protection
Protection -- both physical and legal -- is at the core of PRM’s mission and is integrated into all programs. In any refugee setting there are segments of the population unable to access existing services, or who may have special needs that require measures to ensure their physical protection, including their health and well-being. As women and children comprise the majority of refugees and conflict victims, PRM makes their protection a priority. The FY 2010 request restores targeted interventions for women and children, including activities that prevent and combat gender-based violence. PRM also promotes protection of refugee women and children by improving their access to education and livelihoods. School can be a place where children are protected from threats such as forcible recruitment into armed forces. Refugees who are not totally dependent on the international system for food and other basic necessities are less vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. MRA and ERMA resources also address the needs of extremely vulnerable individuals, including the elderly, disabled, and ethnic minorities. State/PRM has long advocated for protection through presence, emphasizing the importance of well-trained protection staff to identify risks, monitor abuses and design assistance programs that minimize or remedy threats to refugees and conflict victims. As a result of PRM support, UNHCR has added permanent protection field staff to its roster, and ICRC continues to devote 95 percent of its protection costs to field activities.

 

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
State/PRM works with humanitarian organizations, host governments, and other donors to ensure that assistance programs are carried out in accordance with international norms, such as Sphere standards. PRM has successfully worked with its IO and NGO partners to prevent acute malnutrition and mortality from exceeding emergency thresholds and to respond rapidly when they do. As a result of effective programming, mortality remained below emergency thresholds in 100% of emergency refugee sites and 98% of protracted refugee sites monitored in FY 2008. The FY 2010 budget request includes resources to meet such basic needs as health care, water/sanitation, and basic shelter in both emergency and protracted settings. The FY 2010 request includes significant resources for UNRWA reflecting its status as the key provider of education, health, and other assistance to 4.6 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza. UNRWA is not only the primary vehicle for humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees but also is a source of stability in a strategically important region. This funding is critical to maintaining the human dignity of Palestinian refugees as humanitarian conditions continue to erode in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. The FY 2010 request will also allow PRM and its partners to maintain robust emergency assistance programs for millions of Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries and to provide life-sustaining assistance to refugees in protracted refugee settings such as Burmese refugees in Thailand. PRM and its partners are committed to better meeting the assistance needs of refugees in both camps and urban areas.

 

Durable Solutions
Achieving durable solutions for refugees – voluntary return, local integration, and resettlement – works toward the foreign policy objectives of promoting stability and protecting human dignity. In FY 2008, PRM support made possible large-scale returns of Sudanese, Afghan, DR Congolese, Mauritanian, Burundian, and Liberian refugees. The FY 2010 request will enable hundreds of thousands of refugees to go home, restart their lives, and help rebuild their communities in southern Sudan, Burundi, DRC, and Afghanistan. In all cases, PRM works with other parts of the State Department, Embassies, and international organizations to monitor refugee returns closely to ensure that returns are voluntary. Where return is not possible, PRM and its partners encourage host governments to meet their responsibility to protect refugees and IDPs through local integration. For example, the FY 2010 request would support local integration of Liberians in West Africa and Burundians in Tanzania. Durable solutions for these populations promote a transition from relief to sustainable development.

Refugee Admissions to the United States
Long the world’s largest resettlement country, the U.S. has a proud tradition of protecting many of the most vulnerable by welcoming them to the United States. Working closely with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, as well as with key international partners such as UNHCR and IOM, and with numerous NGOs, State/PRM manages the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). 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. With increasing need for this important form of international protection, particularly in the Middle East and South Asia, the Bureau seeks resources to support refugee admissions to the U.S., as well as provide refugee benefits to Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients as required by recently enacted U.S. legislation. Resettling Iraqis, particularly those who are vulnerable because of their association with the U.S. effort in Iraq, continues to be a top priority. The FY 2010 request will permit PRM to maintain a robust refugee settlement program for Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria and to continue major resettlement initiatives for Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and Burmese refugees in Thailand. The program is subject to increasing processing, transportation, and initial reception costs, as well as new refugee benefits to the estimated 12,000 Iraqi SIV recipients and their families. In the context of economic recession, refugees arriving in the U.S. face increasing challenges in finding employment and housing and achieving self-sufficiency. This request seeks to provide modest additional support to private voluntary agencies to provide essential reception and resettlement services through a nationwide network of over 350 affiliated offices to add to broader support provided by the Department of Health and Human Services and private resources.

 

Orderly Migration and Mixed Flows
International migration issues continue to rise in prominence on the global political agenda. As nearly every entity in the UN is addressing some aspect of the migration issue, PRM continues to have the unique opportunity to strengthen U.S. bilateral and regional relationships and promote American policies through international forums. PRM seeks to promote legal, orderly, and humane migration while advancing USG interests relating to protection as well as national security. The Bureau advocates on behalf of the right of all individuals, regardless of their nationality or profession, to migrate in a legal and orderly manner. PRM supports programs related to the asylum-migration nexus, especially where UNHCR and IOM are involved, such as technical assistance to help developing nations manage migration humanely. This is significant in that we are increasingly witnessing mixed migration flows that may include refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless persons, smuggled migrants, and/or victims of human trafficking. In coordination with the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G/TIP) and other USG partners, PRM supports programs that prevent human trafficking and respond to the protection and assistance needs of survivors. In an effort to improve accountability and performance, PRM has worked with IOM to develop and apply performance indicators for anti-trafficking programs. PRM leads the USG’s effort to uphold principles of national sovereignty in multilateral discussions on migration issues as well negotiations concerning the migration of health workers. As a result of PRM diplomacy, initiatives agreed to at regional dialogues were implemented and a growing number of countries increased their capacity to combat human trafficking. In FY 2010, MRA funds will be used to support priority regional migration processes, programs to protect and assist victims of trafficking and other vulnerable migrants, as well as build on our demonstrated success in building the capacity of interested governments to deal effectively and humanely with migration flows.

 

Effective, Accountable Programming
State/PRM emphasizes accountability in its programs in order to ensure maximum impact on behalf of beneficiary populations and the American public, and relies on administrative resources to strengthen the Bureau’s monitoring and evaluation capacity. A tight fiscal environment and the imperative to uphold humanitarian principles and the civilian nature of humanitarian response compel the Bureau to continue strengthening the evidence base on which programming decisions are made. Monitoring and evaluation are at the core of providing funding according to need and ensuring transparency. PRM’s administrative expenses provide the necessary resources to responsibly manage humanitarian programs that are funded through the MRA and ERMA appropriations. The request also reflects the increased human resources required to manage growing assistance and resettlement programs in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa and to help support staff safety in these insecure environments.

 

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 coordinates U.S. international population diplomacy and serves as the State Department’s policy lead on population issues, particularly on reproductive and sexual health, family policies, and demographic analysis. The Bureau works closely with USAID, the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, NGOs, and others to accomplish the Administration’s goals related to population and healthy families. USAID funds and administers all USG bilateral population-related programming. PRM provides policy leadership on the USG’s engagement with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Commission on Population and Development, and other international organizations. In FY 2010, PRM population diplomacy will work to advance reproductive health and conduct policy analysis of key demographic issues (e.g., population aging). Through other State and USAID accounts, the USG will also recommence funding UNFPA pursuant to recent legislation.

 

Conclusion

 

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

* The FY 2008 actual includes $200 million designated as emergency funding in the FY 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act.
**The FY 2009 estimate includes $3.5 million in FY 2009 appropriated funds transferred into MRA from ESF.

The United States government’s commitment to providing humanitarian assistance and resettlement opportunities for refugees and conflict victims around the globe is an essential component of U.S. foreign policy and reflects the American people’s dedication to assisting those in need. The FY 2010 request will fund contributions to key international humanitarian organizations as well as non-governmental organizations to address pressing humanitarian needs overseas and to resettle refugees in the United States. Administered by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), these funds support programs that meet basic needs to sustain life; protect refugees, stateless persons, and conflict victims; assist refugees with voluntary repatriation, local integration, or permanent resettlement in the U.S.; and foster the humane and effective management of international migration.

 

Highlights:

 

• Overseas Assistance – A key component of helping refugees and conflict victims is the protection and assistance provided to these populations overseas. This support will include the provision of life-sustaining services, including water/sanitation, shelter, and healthcare, as well as programs that provide physical and legal protection to vulnerable beneficiaries and assist refugees to return to their homes in safety and dignity, or integrate into their host communities as appropriate. Funding also promotes orderly and humane means of international migration through regional processes and support for developing countries to improve management of mixed migratory flows.

 

• Refugee Admissions – The United States admits more refugees for resettlement than any other country in the world. These funds will support an expanding and increasingly diverse U.S. resettlement program in an environment of higher processing, transportation, and initial reception and placement costs.

 

• Humanitarian Migrants to Israel – This funding will maintain longstanding U.S. government support for relocation and integration of Jewish migrants to Israel.

 

• Administrative Expenses – PRM is responsible for the oversight of all projects funded through Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) and U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) appropriations. These funds will cover costs associated with the management and monitoring of these critical humanitarian programs. The largest portion of Administrative Expenses covers the salary, benefits, and travel costs of a lean PRM staff of 130, in addition to 54 staff overseas who are either eligible family members or locally employed.

 

Overseas Assistance

 

* The FY 2009 estimate includes $3.5 million in FY 2009 appropriated funds transferred into MRA from ESF.

 

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.

UNHCR is an indispensable partner for the USG and a critical player in effective multilateral humanitarian response. It is mandated by the UN to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and provide durable solutions on their behalf. In addition, UNHCR advocates for asylum-seekers, works to prevent and reduce statelessness, and is the lead agency for the protection, emergency shelter and camp coordination and camp management needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs). Through its global network (it is present in 116 countries), and partnerships with other humanitarian assistance providers, UNHCR provides protection, solutions, life-saving assistance and monitoring for approximately 31.6 million persons of concern. UNHCR programs provide legal and physical protection as well as multi-sectoral assistance, including in water, sanitation, shelter, food, health care, and primary education. It is an essential partner in seeking permanent solutions for refugees, such as supporting voluntary return and reintegration operations, local integration of refugees into host country communities and third country resettlement. In FY 2010 UNHCR will mainstream its piloted Global Needs Assessment initiative into its annual budget to ensure that its appeals fully reflect the needs of beneficiaries, a portion of which will be covered through this budget request. UNHCR launched a comprehensive and large-scale reform process in February 2006 with the aim of becoming a more responsive and accountable organization. Since its inception, the reform has been guided by a set of objectives, the foremost being to optimize the organization’s effectiveness in meeting the needs of people of concern by shifting to a results orientation, realigning structures, and reducing bureaucracy. UNHCR is currently consolidating progress achieved thus far and taking stock of lessons learned.

ICRC has a unique status as an independent humanitarian institution mandated by the Geneva Conventions to protect conflict victims, which makes it an invaluable partner in responding to humanitarian needs. Its respected neutrality, independence and impartiality often affords ICRC access to areas – and thus to people in need – that other IO or NGO partners are unable to reach. The organization’s primary goals are to protect and assist civilian victims of armed conflict, trace missing persons, reunite separated family members, monitor prisoners of war, and disseminate information on the principles of international humanitarian law. In FY 2010, the ICRC will continue to respond to the specific needs of populations affected by conflict. In Sudan, ICRC will assist people in targeted areas where other humanitarian actors cannot operate. The same can be expected for ICRC operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan; ICRC expects to increase its assistance and protection to those affected by conflict in areas where ICRC is able to work across the many lines of confrontation between armed groups. In Sri Lanka, ICRC will focus on protection of IDPs until they are able to return safely home.

 

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.

IOM is the sole international organization with a global migration mandate and is an important partner in advancing the USG policy objective of facilitating orderly and humane migration. IOM works primarily in six service areas: assisted voluntary returns and reintegration, counter-trafficking, migration and health, transportation, labor migration, and technical cooperation on migration. As international migration issues continue to impact or be impacted by other global trends, such as climate change, peace and security, and global health threats, active support for IOM assistance programs and diplomatic engagement with the organization will be important. IOM’s new Director General William Lacy Swing has identified strengthening member state ownership in IOM activities and fostering collaborative partnerships to meet challenges as priorities for his tenure.

Other IOs/NGOs: MRA and ERMA funds may also be provided to other IOs and NGOs, as required to meet specific program needs and objectives. Other IOs receiving MRA funds in the past include the World Food Program (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The six largest of the 46 NGO recipients of funds for overseas assistance in FY 2008 were the International Rescue Committee, the International Medical Corps, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services, International Relief and Development, and the American Refugee Committee. Funding for NGO programs is typically provided for a twelve-month period.

The Department may reallocate funds between regions or organizations within the overseas assistance request in response to changing requirements.

 

FY 2008 Results

 

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.

In FY 2008, USG support allowed ICRC to rapidly respond to the protection and assistance needs of conflict-affected populations. ICRC maintained the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in exercising its international mandate to protect and assist conflict victims. Its reputation of impartiality continued to give the organization access to people in areas where other agencies were not able to operate. For example, ICRC was the first and only international humanitarian organization to obtain access to South Ossetia during the Georgia/Russia conflict, working immediately to improve water/sanitation, provide emergency health services, visit detainees, and re-establish family linkages. The ICRC’s reputation and performance resulted in life-saving responses in areas important to USG interests, including by providing assistance to conflict victims in Pakistan (where it is the only international humanitarian organization in a number of the conflict zones), Afghanistan, Colombia, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

 

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

 

• Meet ongoing emergency needs of refugees and conflict victims in and from such places as the West Bank/Gaza, Chad/Darfur, Colombia, Iraq and neighboring countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, the DRC, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Burma and Georgia; prepare for potential crisis in the Caribbean.
• Support durable solutions for refugees including large-scale returns to southern Sudan, Burundi, the DRC, Mauritania, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
• Protect refugees, conflict victims, stateless persons, and certain internally displaced persons from an array of threats, including involuntary return (refoulement), family separation, forcible recruitment into armed groups, discrimination, exploitation, and gender-based violence.
• Promote regional solutions to the growing challenges of mixed migratory flows in ways that promote orderly and safe migration, while protecting asylum seekers, refugees, and other vulnerable migrants, such as victims of human trafficking, including those who may be stateless.
• Maintain U.S. humanitarian leadership with key multilateral institutions by providing reliable support to programs and reform efforts that increase accountability, enhance needs-based budgeting, and improve emergency response and protection of vulnerable people around the world.

Assistance Programs in Africa

 

 

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

 

• Provide life saving humanitarian assistance for refugees and conflict-affected populations from and in Darfur, the Central African Republic, the DRC, Eritrea, and Somalia.
• Ensure that minimum humanitarian standards are met in both emergency and protracted settings.
• Sustain refugee returns to Burundi, the DRC, Liberia, Mauritania, and southern Sudan and make reintegration as effective as possible.
• Continue to encourage permanent local integration of residual Angolan, Burundian, old caseload Eritrean, Liberian, and Sierra Leonean refugees.
• Respond rapidly and effectively to any new emergencies (e.g., wider warfare in Somalia, revolt and repression in Zimbabwe).
• Where basic protection, repatriation, or local integration efforts fail, identify U.S. resettlement as a durable solution for African refugees not otherwise inadmissible to the United States.
• Address the challenges of mixed migration flows in such settings as Egypt, South Africa, and Djibouti in order to preserve first asylum and save lives.

Assistance Programs in East Asia

 

 

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

 

• Ensure that the protection and assistance needs of vulnerable populations such as Rohingya, Hmong and North Korean asylum seekers, and Montagnards are met.
• Coordinate with other donor governments on responsibility-sharing, diplomatic and advocacy efforts to meet assistance gaps and protection needs for refugees and stateless persons.
• Meet humanitarian assistance and protection needs of Burmese refugees by supporting NGOs on the Thai-Burma border.
• Improve protection and address security concerns for 200,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees living outside refugee camps in Bangladesh.
• Urge the Government of Malaysia to cooperate with UNHCR in preventing arbitrary raids, arrests, detention and deportation of refugees and to issue work permits to Rohingya.

Assistance Programs in Europe

 

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

 

thousands of refugees and IDPs through direct assistance and advocacy. USG funding supported legal assistance
projects that allowed IDPs and refugees to obtain official documents from their countries of origin to help them pursue claims to status, citizenship, pensions, employment, and property, and helped host governments and civil society create mechanisms to provide documentation for stateless persons. USG grants to NGOs supported the voluntary return of people to their pre-conflict homes in Kosovo, by coordinating “Go-and-See” visits, transportation for returns, and access to income generation and community reconciliation activities that are essential to the sustainability of such returns. USG assistance in Serbia and Montenegro provided income generation grants and legal assistance to help IDPs integrate into local communities. A USG-funded shelter/durable solutions project implemented by UNHCR provided public housing to elderly pre-Dayton refugees who were living in run down collective centers.

 

FY 2009 Priorities

 

• Address the remaining humanitarian needs of those displaced during the August 2008 conflict in Georgia.
• Facilitate local integration and/or return of the remaining refugees and internally displaced people in the Balkans.
• Advocate for governments of the region to adopt policies that provide just recompense to those displaced during the Balkan conflicts.
• Support programs, legislation, and policies that eliminate the conditions that lead to statelessness.
• Support international organizations and key NGO partners that provide protection and assistance to other vulnerable populations in the North and South Caucasus and the Balkans.

Assistance Programs in the Near East

 

 

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

 

• Provide humanitarian assistance and protection to Iraqi refugees and conflict victims, especially concerning their physical and mental health.
• Support durable solutions for Iraqi refugees, and – security conditions permitting – begin laying the groundwork for larger-scale, safe, voluntary returns to Iraq.
• Support UNRWA’s mission to provide primary education, basic health, and relief and social services to Palestinian refugees throughout West Bank/Gaza, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.
• Maintain strong USG leadership on UNRWA’s Advisory Commission in order to help guide UNRWA’s management, programmatic, and budgetary reform agenda.

Assistance Programs in South Asia

 

 

FY 2010 Request

The FY 2010 request includes increased funding to address the needs of refugees and conflict victims in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and meet emergency needs of people displaced as a result of intensified conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. The request also will sustain Afghan refugee repatriation operations, the largest organized refugee repatriation in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR’s) history and an important element of maintaining stability in the region. Assistance programs in South Asia will also provide support to Tibetans in Nepal and India, displaced Sri Lankans fleeing violence, and Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. In Sri Lanka, humanitarian needs caused by intensified fighting in FY 2009 in which 250,000 civilians were caught in the cross-fire are likely to continue into 2010. The FY 2010 request includes support to maintain humanitarian assistance programs for both conflict victims in Sri Lanka and refugees in India. In Nepal, the USG and other governments will proceed with large-scale resettlement of Bhutanese refugees. Those Bhutanese refugees who can be repatriated or locally integrated in Nepal will need integration assistance in FY 2010 to ensure a smooth transition to development.

 

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.

The protection situation for Tibetan refugees declined considerably in 2008, in part due to restrictions of movement and other measures taken by the People’s Republic of China in the lead up to the Olympics. Tightened security along the China/Nepal border resulted in far fewer refugees leaving China while the newly elected Government of Nepal sometimes resorted to harsh measures against protesting Tibetans living in Nepal. In 2008, USG support to UNHCR maintained the continuity of comprehensive reception services in Nepal while support to the Tibet Fund was essential to maintaining health and education services in the Tibetan settlements in northern India.

 

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

 

• Continue to promote durable solutions including safe, voluntary return for at least 150,000 Afghan returnees.
• Maintain robust protection and assistance programming in Afghanistan to ensure that returnees have access to basic services.
• Respond to the emergency needs of conflict-affected populations in Pakistan.
• Maintain assistance to some 100,000 Bhutanese in UNHCR-run camps in southeast Nepal.
• Work with governmental partners, donors, and the Tibet Fund to improve basic services in the Tibetan settlements.
• Provide protection and assistance to conflict-affected populations in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan refugees in southern India.

Assistance Programs in the Western Hemisphere

 

* The FY 2009 estimate includes $3.5 million in FY 2009 appropriated funds transferred into MRA from ESF.

 

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 supported programs dedicated to strengthening the ability of local authorities to prevent and respond to forced displacement and other emergencies. With USG support, UNHCR, ICRC and other international organization (IO) and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners continued their effective and highly regarded programs. In Medellin – a region with one of the highest rates of displacement, ICRC provided emergency humanitarian assistance to IDPs in the form of food, household kits, cooking utensils, personal hygiene items, and sleeping materials. UNHCR expanded its presence in “hot zones” of displacement, opening a new office in Aruaca, and implemented protection projects such as documentation campaigns, infrastructure projects to prevent displacement in communities-at-risk, and the construction of shelters in receiving zones, as part of contingency plans prepared with the participation of the community. Through such projects, UNHCR assisted 107,000 IDPs with civil registration and documentation and ensured 20,000 IDP children were integrated into the education system.

Outside of Colombia, the USG partners with UNHCR, ICRC, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and other IOs and NGOs to meet the needs of Colombian refugees in Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela, primarily in border communities, to build local capacity to deal with refugee populations and to meet emergency needs, such as food, water, shelter, health care, and psychosocial support. The USG continues to place particular focus on providing psychosocial services to refugees and IDPs due to the extensive trauma experienced over a prolonged period of numerous displacements.

 

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

 

• Meet some of the protection and assistance needs of IDPs in Colombia and Colombian refugees in neighboring countries.
• Increase attention and resources in areas with high levels of displacement in Colombia and in border regions with Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela, including in support of Embassy Bogota stabilization and development efforts.
• Strengthen the refugee and asylum protection regime in the Caribbean to adhere to international humanitarian standards.
• Collaborate with governmental and international partners to ensure a coordinated and effective response to a potential mass outflow of Cuban or Haitian populations.
• Prevent and resolve situations of de facto statelessness, particularly for Haitian migrants in the Caribbean.

Strategic Global Priorities

 

 

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

 

• Support UN management reform efforts to build a strong international humanitarian infrastructure, which is essential for effective emergency response and protection of vulnerable populations.
• Support UNHCR’s mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness, including efforts to mainstream activities to address statelessness in the agency’s country operation plans and budget.
• Maintain USG leadership in protection of refugee women and children, including through preventing and responding to GBV and sexual exploitation of refugees around the world.
• Continue to improve the evidence based decision making capacity in the State Department and its international partners, thereby promoting accountability on behalf of American taxpayers and maximizing the positive impact of humanitarian programs for beneficiaries.

Migration

 

 

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 2008, the USG promoted orderly migration and protected vulnerable migrants and victims of trafficking through contributions to IOM and effective diplomacy and advocacy. The USG’s engagement in regional dialogues continued to have a positive impact. In 2008, the USG supported a Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration in West Africa co-hosted by IOM, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to highlight the protection concerns involved in mixed migratory flows, which included refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and trafficking victims. The USG also continued its support in 2008 for several regional migration efforts, including the Regional Conference on Migration (RCM), a regional migration dialogue in North and Central America that meets at the technical and Vice-Ministerial levels to share best practices and undertake regional initiatives to promote legal, orderly and safe migration. In FY 2008, nearly 82% percent of the activities agreed to by member states of regional dialogues supported with PRM funding have been implemented or are in the process of implementation, including those related to migration capacity building as well as combating migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons.

In FY 2008, combating trafficking in persons (TIP) continued to be a high priority. Modest MRA funds play a critical role in USG anti-TIP efforts by supporting programs that provide protection and assistance to TIP victims; PRM programs assisted several hundred beneficiaries in 2008. These programs were targeted to leverage migration capacity building and complement regional policy dialogues. One telling measure of success is the fact that 92% of foreign governments with MRA-funded projects have increased their activities to combat trafficking in persons, far exceeding the FY 2008 target. For example, PRM funding enabled IOM to assist over 2,000 victims of trafficking in Indonesia. Working with the Indonesian government, IOM provided international return, medical and psychosocial assistance and reintegration support to Indonesian victims. This on-going project prompted the Indonesian government to assume much of the costs of international return for the victims, as well as in kind contributions for medical support – another measure of success. In Vietnam, IOM works with the Government to carry out a comprehensive approach to return and reintegration of trafficking victims by providing technical assistance and capacity building for the provision of services to survivors and has established two shelters for trafficked women and children, the first of their kind in Vietnam.

FY 2009 Priorities

 

• Promote orderly and humane international migration by supporting and participating in inter-governmental regional migration discussions on border control, capacity building, asylum procedures, mixed migratory flows, protection of the human rights of migrants, migrant smuggling, trafficking in persons, health care worker mobility, and migration and the environment.
• Support migration capacity-building activities and the provision of services for the international return and reintegration of victims of human trafficking and other vulnerable migrants.
• Disseminate and promote the use of performance indicators to help assess the impact of USG-funded programs to combat trafficking in persons.
• Monitor international efforts to advance a global framework for international migration.

Humanitarian Migrants to Israel

 

 

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

• Support UIA in its effort to move at least 7,400 humanitarian migrants through transit centers to Israel for resettlement.
• Ensure that approximately 20,000 migrants from the Newly Independent States and 5,200 from Ethiopia receive high quality services including education, language instruction, and vocational training.
• Improve language instruction for humanitarian migrants from Ethiopia.

 

Refugee Admissions

 

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

 

• Process and admit the maximum number of refugees in need of resettlement while preserving the principle of ensuring first asylum in other countries, promoting voluntary refugee returns, and advocating and supporting expanded resettlement capacity in other countries.
• Process and admit refugees of special humanitarian concern to the U.S., including those referred by UNHCR, U.S. Embassies, or non-governmental organizations; threatened people inside Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq, and the Former Soviet states; specific groups of designated refugees; and close relatives of persons from designated nationalities who arrive in the United States as refugees or were granted asylum.
• Expand U.S. Refugee Admissions Program processing capacity in Baghdad to address the growing Iraqi refugee and SIV caseloads.
• Continue to identify new groups in need of U.S. resettlement including:
  • Establish refugee processing capacity in eastern Chad for resettlement of certain Darfur refugees in Sudan and in Ethiopia for resettlement of certain Eritrean refugees.
  • Process and admit vulnerable Palestinian refugees in Iraq in need of third country resettlement and support UNHCR efforts to find other resettlement countries to assist this population.
  • Offer resettlement to Jews fleeing ethnic violence in Yemen.
• Provide some additional reception and placement support to help ameliorate the negative impact of the economic downturn and challenges to successful integration of resettled refugees in the U.S.

Administrative Expenses

 

 

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.

 

FY 2009 Priorities

 

• Continue to enhance the monitoring and evaluation of humanitarian partners to ensure accountability, program effectiveness, and maximum benefit for populations of concern on behalf of American taxpayers.
• Continue to exercise due diligence to ensure that USG funds are provided only to humanitarian partners with no links to terrorist organizations.
• Increase overseas staffing to manage growing programs in Chad, Colombia, Syria and Nepal. Increase domestic staff to provide policy and program guidance to expanding Middle East portfolio.

 

U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund

 

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

At the beginning of FY 2008, nearly $63 million remained in the Fund. The ERMA appropriation under the FY 2008 Full-Year Continuing Resolution was approximately $44 million. By the end of FY 2008, nearly $80 million was provided from ERMA to address various humanitarian emergencies. With the addition of another $31 million from the FY 2008 Emergency Supplemental appropriation, FY 2009 opened with an ERMA balance of slightly over $60 million. The combination of an appropriation of $40 million in FY 2009, and Presidential drawdowns of $42.6 million left an ERMA balance of approximately $58 million in March 2009.

 

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.

In Africa, ERMA funds supported the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and conflict victims. ERMA funds totaling $25.9 million addressed urgent and unanticipated refugee and host community needs in the Horn of Africa during the course of FY 2008. As a result of intensified conflict in Somalia, the number of IDPs doubled and 129,000 new Somali refugees fled to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Yemen to escape the violence. With ERMA funds, the USG provided $10 million to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide urgently needed medical assistance, water, shelter, and food to Somali refugees in Ethiopia, Yemen and Kenya, and to conflict-affected populations in Somalia. A separate ERMA drawdown of $11 million allowed International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to respond to growing humanitarian needs inside Somalia as a result of growing insecurity. ICRC used USG funds to expand its operations, already its second largest in Africa. Another $4.9 million in ERMA funds addressed urgent, unanticipated humanitarian needs in the wake of post-election violence in Kenya. With this funding, ICRC was able to address the protection and assistance needs of conflict victims in Kenya while UNHCR met shelter and other emergency assistance needs of the displaced.

 

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.

ERMA funds were also used to support UNHCR emergency response and preparedness planning in Southern Africa. With a $2.5 million contribution from ERMA, UNHCR was able to provide emergency relief (shelter and non-food items) to Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zambia. In addition, ERMA funding helped bolster regional emergency preparedness in the event of new outflows from Zimbabwe into neighboring countries.

In the Near East, throughout 2008, violence, insecurity, political instability, economic decline and a corresponding deterioration of the humanitarian situation of Palestinians significantly increased humanitarian needs in Gaza and the West Bank. The USG used ERMA funds to provide a $14 million contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to provide food and health care for over one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza and over 750,000 refugees in the West Bank. In addition, $1.8 million in ERMA funding enabled ICRC to respond to hostilities in Yemen’s Saada Province by providing shelter, food, and household essentials to families rendered destitute by conflict as well as rehabilitating water and health facilities and fund livelihood support projects.

ERMA funds also contributed to improving food security for refugees in FY 2008. The provision of $11.6 million in ERMA funding to the World Food Program (WFP) averted potentially deadly breaks in food supplies for refugees in Algeria, Cameroon, DRC, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Rwanda, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia. While small in terms of the WFP’s overall budget, ERMA-funded cash contributions were instrumental in allowing WFP to respond rapidly and effectively to fill gaps in refugee food pipelines to ensure that there was no interruption in food distributions to these vulnerable populations. An additional $1.4 million in ERMA funds helped the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) maintain feeding programs to Burmese refugees along the Thai-Burma border. Without ERMA funding, rising food costs would have forced the TBBC to reduce the amount of food procured and distributed to refugees in need.

When conflict erupted between Russia and Georgia in August 2008, the USG again turned to the ERMA Fund to provide $5.75 million to UNHCR and ICRC to support their protection and assistance activities for conflict-affected Georgians. With ERMA funding, UNHCR rapidly responded to meet the immediate needs of displaced populations by providing emergency shelter and non food items. ICRC provided emergency relief including medical assistance to conflict survivors throughout the country.

FY 2009 Drawdowns

 

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.