World Refugee Day

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, this Sunday, June 20, the world will observe the tenth annual World Refugee Day. On this day, we call attention to humanity's efforts, through the United Nations, the work of individual governments, and of nongovernmental organizations, to alleviate the plight of those forced from their homes by conflict or hatred.

Sadly, while the world's commitment to these refugees is great, the scope of the problem is even greater. Last year, more than 43 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes, the largest number since the mid-1990s. At the same time, data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees show that the number of refugees who resettled in 2009 was at the lowest level in two decades.

These figures, just for 2009, include more than 2.8 million people who have fled homes in Afghanistan, more than 1.7 million people from Iraq, more than half a million in Somalia, nearly half a million from the Democratic Republic of Congo. These stunning numbers represent the human cost of humanity's inability to live in peace. These seemingly endless millions represent mothers who struggle to feed their babies, children unable to go to school, families without dependable access to clean water or food or medical care. They are without homes, and if the world is silent to their pleas for aid, they will be without hope.

Fortunately, this human tragedy has prompted global action, with the United States in the lead. The Refugee Act of 1980 guides U.S. policy with regards to refugees, and since its passage, more than two and a half million people forced from their homes have been resettled in the United States. Of the more than 112,000 refugees who found refuge in countries other than their home in 2009, about 80,000, or nearly three-quarters, were resettled in the United States.

Despite our commitment to aiding refugees and to finding them new homes, our current policies often stand in the way of fulfilling our responsibility to help. Current law and administrative practice too often put unnecessary burdens on those seeking asylum here, even barring some who hope to escape the worst sorts of violence and persecution from entering the United States.

Seeking to address these problems, I have joined Senators Leahy and Durbin in sponsoring the Refugee Protection Act of 2010. Our legislation would extend protections for those seeking asylum in the United States; reform the process by which asylum seekers can be expelled from this country; modify existing law to ensure that legitimate asylum-seekers are not inadvertently caught up in antiterrorism protections while ensuring that terrorists are unable to manipulate the system to gain entry; and ease the path to resettlement for asylum-seekers and their families. Failing to remedy these gaps in our refugee law would carry a great human cost. As Dan Glickman, the president of Refugees International, testified to the Judiciary Committee during a hearing on our bill last month, ``The Refugee Protection Act will help us do the right thing by creating a more efficient and fair process for providing safe haven to the world's most vulnerable.''

We face this continuing challenge without one of the world's most eloquent and effective advocates for the world's refugees. Senator Ted Kennedy led the drive to pass the original Refugee Act of 1980. He was a tireless advocate for the innocent victims of conflict, religious persecution and ethnic hatred. As we approach another World Refugee Day, we would benefit enormously from his leadership, but we can gain inspiration from his example. So long as there are people forced from their homes by war and persecution, this Nation will have a responsibility to act, and the Refugee Protection Act is an important opportunity to do so.

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