October 4, 2004

UNHCR Executive Committee 55th Session

USG Plenary Statement

Arthur E. Dewey
Assistant Secretary of State For Population, Refugees and Migration
Head of Delegation

Mr. Chairman, Mr. High Commissioner, Distinguished Colleagues:

We welcome Ambassadors Escudero of Ecuador and Oshima of Japan as new Chair and Vice-Chair, and Ms. Anne Blomberg of Sweden as Rapporteur. We are pleased that Egypt and Zambia, two generous refugee-hosting countries, are joining us today as new members of EXCOM.

Mr. Chairman,
I thank the High Commissioner for his comprehensive overview that reflects the challenges and successes of the past year. We have met these challenges and achieved these successes by working together multilaterally. I also want to say how glad I am to see World Food Program Executive Director Jim Morris at EXCOM. Regular and adequate food for refugees is vital but pipeline breaks continue to plague our efforts. The panel discussion on food later today should underscore for under-performing donors that WFP still lacks, and must have, the resources to do its job.

This year, refugee solutions have reduced the worldwide refugee population by 17 percent. Yet, we still have all too many protracted situations where progress towards solution is either too slow, or seems to be going nowhere.

Advocacy groups have recently re-raised a serious problem with which we have been wrestling for years - refugee warehousing. But we are no longer just wringing our hands about warehousing. We have had some dramatic "dewarehousing" breakthroughs in the last two years. These breakthroughs have not happened by accident. Rather, they have been made possible through the liberation of several entire societies and by the generous resources provided by serious donor states that have worked together multilaterally to bring about the repatriation of nearly four million refugees over the last two years.

These refugees have gone home to Liberia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Iraq. I am delighted to see that Minister Isho of Iraq is here with us today. Her dedication to refugee and IDP returns is both an inspiration and a model. UNHCR's role has been crucial to these repatriation success stories, and we are witnessing one of its finest hours in this regard.

An important ingredient in these successes is a sustained international effort to provide sustenance and jobs until governments can take over these services. Countries need to include refugees in their national development plans. Returnees need long-term transitional help and employment opportunities, such as the Afghan Conservation Corps, to restore their dignity and self-reliance. We want refugees to return home voluntarily and as we have said for years in EXCOM conclusions in safety and dignity.

Mr. Chairman,
As a practical matter, where we are blocked on one refugee solution front, we must move on others. UNHCR is developing a much-needed culture of resettlement. The U.S. commitment to resettlement remains strong. I am pleased to report that we exceeded our goal of admitting 50,000 refugees this fiscal year. The final total was 52,875, as compared to fewer than 29,000 each of the previous two years. The increase is a tribute to the new initiatives we have undertaken in response to the changing refugee environment. One of these was providing substantial funding to enhance UNHCR's resettlement capacity to identify and refer refugees to resettlement countries. The results of this effort are evident in thousands of new referrals in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Mr. Chairman,
I would like to express our support for the proposal to create an Assistant High Commissioner for Protection.

This would give new gravitas to the care and protection of refugee women and refugee children. And we are pleased to hear that the long-promised Special Advisor to the High Commissioner for Gender Issues will soon be on board.
Looking ahead, we encourage UNHCR to continue to strengthen its operational performance. Much has been done in the past year - the roll-out of Project Profile and the Management Systems Renewal Project, the development of standards and indicators, and the beginning of the integration of gender and age into the way UNHCR does business.

We now look forward to the impact of the implementation of new human resources policy and to better management of UNHCR's most valuable asset - its dedicated staff.

We look forward to a more concerted effort to carry out assessments of real needs and to identify gaps in protection and assistance.

We look forward to improved operational coordination between UNHCR and its international organization peers, and especially with its NGO implementing partners.

And, we look forward to a predictable, rapid and effective emergency response. The challenge of caring for some 200,000 refugees in Chad is tremendous. I was pleased to be able to visit the region with the High Commissioner and other donor colleagues. I salute the heroic work done by the field staff of UNHCR and NGOs, in particularly in moving so many people from the border so quickly into the camps.

Emergency response is UNHCR's job. UNHCR must ask for the resources it needs to do this job. It must better support its staff. It must ensure that an adequate core of experienced international professional staff members is deployed quickly to wherever they are needed. The pool of candidates for "A" team deployments must be expanded. UNHCR must move more quickly on determining which operational partner will undertake which activity, then get the money to them as soon as possible, and finally, oversee their effectiveness, providing advice and expertise where necessary.

The United States is there to help. We remain your strong supporter. Your competence and your performance are directly related to Member States' active interest in your mandate and your operations. In 2003, we provided $307 million; in 2004, to date, we have provided approximately $297 million. We can continue to justify this our commitment to multilateralism to our Congress and the American people as long as UNHCR remains a center of operational excellence for refugee protection and solutions.

I would like to thank those countries that have provided and continue to provide refuge to those fleeing conflict and violence. These countries of refuge are our strong partners in good humanitarian donorship.

Tragically, refugees are too often not sufficiently protected, as the horrifying murder of some 160 Congolese refugees in Burundi attests. I thought we had left behind the barbarism that used to occur with armed attacks on refugee camps. We must go beyond our sorrow and regret to supporting measures to stop these unspeakable crimes against humanity.

Mr. Chairman,
Humanitarian workers are the indispensable force for good - and the force that lacks protection. The recent regrettable departure of MSF from Afghanistan is the latest indication of how dangerous humanitarian work has become. The protection of our brave and tough humanitarian workers, while keeping them on the job, is the major challenge of our times. I salute you, the staff of UNHCR and those who work with you, for your continued willingness to face this challenge.