[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
__________
Serial No. 113-66
__________
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DANA ROHRABACHER, California Samoa
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
TED POE, Texas GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MATT SALMON, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
MO BROOKS, Alabama DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
TOM COTTON, Arkansas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
PAUL COOK, California JUAN VARGAS, California
GEORGE HOLDING, North Carolina BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania Massachusetts
STEVE STOCKMAN, Texas AMI BERA, California
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
TREY RADEL, Florida GRACE MENG, New York
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
TED S. YOHO, Florida JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
LUKE MESSER, Indiana
Amy Porter, Chief of Staff Thomas Sheehy, Staff Director
Jason Steinbaum, Democratic Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
TOM COTTON, Arkansas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida JUAN VARGAS, California
TREY RADEL, Florida BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER, Illinois
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III,
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina Massachusetts
TED S. YOHO, Florida GRACE MENG, New York
LUKE MESSER, Indiana LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
The Honorable Anne C. Richard, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of State.. 7
The Honorable Nancy E. Lindborg, Assistant Administrator, Bureau
for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance , U.S.
Agency for International Development........................... 15
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Anne C. Richard: Prepared statement................ 10
The Honorable Nancy E. Lindborg: Prepared statement.............. 17
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 46
Hearing minutes.................................................. 47
Written responses from the Honorable Anne C. Richard to questions
submitted for the record by the Honorable Adam Kinzinger, a
Representative in Congress from the State of Illinois.......... 49
Written responses from the Honorable Anne C. Richard to questions
submitted for the record by the Honorable Joe Wilson, a
Representative in Congress from the State of South Carolina.... 53
EXAMINING THE SYRIAN REFUGEE CRISIS
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m., in
room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-
Lehtinen (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. The subcommittee will come to order.
After recognizing myself and the ranking member, my good friend
Ted Deutch for 5 minutes each for our opening statements, I
will then recognize other members seeking recognition for 1
minute. We will hear from our witnesses then. And without
objection, the prepared statements of our witnesses will be
made a part of the record, and members may have 5 days to
insert statements and questions for the record subject to the
length limitation in the rules.
Before we begin with our opening statements, I would like
to remind my colleagues that this hearing is meant to focus
strictly on the humanitarian crisis in Syria. It is not meant
to be a debate on the chemical weapons situation, the potential
use of military force, or the Russian proposal. Our witnesses
have joined us today to discuss their area of expertise and
responsibility, and will not be expected to discuss anything
beyond that scope. And I thank everyone in advance for your
cooperation.
We're also very glad to have Mr. Smith joining our
subcommittee today. He is the ranking member, I mean he's the
chairman of the Africa Global Health and Human Rights
Subcommittee. Thank you, Mr. Smith, who's been a real leader on
refugee issues.
The Chair now recognizes herself for 5 minutes.
While much attention and great amounts of deliberation have
been focused on the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian
conflict and what the proper U.S. response may be, we must also
continue to highlight the increasingly dire humanitarian
crisis. Since this conflict began in March 2011, the numbers of
those impacted have grown exponentially and are truly shocking
and devastating.
Nearly a full one-third of Syria's population is in dire
need of humanitarian assistance, and has been displaced by the
conflict. By most estimates there are now nearly 5 million
Syrians who are now internally displaced persons. Unable or
unwilling to flee Syria to find sanctuary elsewhere for
whatever reason, these IDPs are extremely vulnerable.
The vast majority of them are women and children, and the
elderly who end up staying in unofficial shelters, unfinished
buildings, and makeshift accommodations making it extremely
difficult to get them the basic necessities that they require.
There have also been over 2 million Syrians who have risked
their lives to flee the fighting in Syria, and have sought
refuge in other countries with over 1 million of those refugees
being children under the age of 18.
Over 97 percent of these refugees flee to Syria's
neighboring countries, like our ally Jordan, or to Turkey,
Lebanon, Egypt, and Iraq. We have seen hundreds of thousands
flee to each of these countries, and this mass influx of
refugees weighs heavily on their economies and their security
situations.
Perhaps the two countries most greatly impacted by the
refugee crisis are Lebanon and Jordan. Lebanon is home to
anywhere between 700,000 to 1 million Syrian refugees who are
living with host communities or in settlements, and whose
presence introduces a complex and potentially dangerous
situation as we have witnessed with multiple cross-border
incidents and spillover violence.
While the political situation in Lebanon already is tenuous
at best, this massive influx of refugees further destabilizes
the country and threatens to up-end the fragile government and
pull Lebanon into the conflict, a situation that would not only
have serious ramifications for regional and U.S. national
security, but would severely exacerbate the humanitarian
crisis.
Meanwhile, Jordan has pledged to keep its borders open to
those fleeing Syria despite the heavy burden that this places
on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan whose Ambassador is with us
today, and I would like to briefly recognize her. Welcome,
Madam Ambassador, and our subcommittee had met privately with
her before this subcommittee about this refugee crisis. Jordan
continues to be an important ally of the United States.
Official numbers place the number of refugees in Jordan at
well over \1/2\ million, but those numbers may be much higher,
as we heard from the Ambassador this morning, due to the large
number of unregistered refugees. While some Syrians live in
camp within Jordan, most live amongst host communities. In
fact, one camp is home to over 120,000 refugees which would be
Jordan's fourth largest city.
The United States through the work of the State Department
and USAID continues to provide humanitarian assistance to those
impacted by the Syrian conflict. We are the single largest
contributor of humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people
providing aid to nearly 4 million in Syria with the assistance
of the U.N. and local and international organizations and NGOs.
Our assistance along with the assistance provided by our
friends in the EU, the UK, and the UAE will provide food,
medical care, clean water and shelter for those affected by the
conflict. This is a massive undertaking and with no end in
sight to the Syria conflict, it is important that we evaluate
the situation and its implications for the region, as well as
the programs we have in place to support ongoing and future
developments.
Half of the Syrians in need are children who need something
or someone to turn to. If the United States doesn't step up to
assist them, these children may turn to the Islamic extremists
who would seek to take advantage of their vulnerability and
radicalize them, further threatening the stability of the
region, and our security interest.
For the well being of the millions of impacted, for the
stability and security of the region, and for our own national
security interest we must continue to seek ways to aid these
millions who desperately need our help. With no end in sight to
the conflict, these numbers will continue to add up, causing
increased pressure on the region, and directly threatening the
U.S. and our allies.
And with that, I turn to my good friend, the ranking
member, Mr. Deutch of Florida.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thanks for holding
this hearing on what's truly a critical issue that warrants the
most serious attention.
I would also like to acknowledge and welcome the Jordanian
Ambassador, Ambassador Bouran. Thank you for being here with us
today.
The humanitarian crisis in Syria has reached staggering
heights. There are now 6.8 million people in need of immediate
humanitarian assistance. I would be remiss if I didn't remind
everyone in this room that the death toll in Syria now exceeds
110,000, and that is just the official number.
Back in February of this year, 8 months ago, the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees told the Security Council that it was
a moment of truth for the international community as the
situation was ``escalating very quickly into a disaster that
could overwhelm the international response capacity.'' That was
8 months ago when there were just under 1 million registered
refugees. In March, the High Commissioner warned the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that all of the agencies involved
in this humanitarian response are dramatically underfunded.
On September 3rd, the number of Syrian refugees passed the
2 million mark. That's the count of officially registered
refugees. There are likely thousands more that go unaccounted
for every day.
I'm increasingly concerned about the impact this crisis
will have on Syria's children. Children under the age of 17
account for 1 million of all refugees. Many of these children
have not received regular schooling in over 2 years. Some in
host countries face language barriers or discrimination, while
many in camps lack access to basic materials needed for
education.
This is no longer just one country in turmoil, this is a
full-blown regional crisis. There are over 460,000 refugees in
Turkey, almost 580,000 refugees in Jordan, and over 700,000
refugees in Lebanon. Let me put that in perspective. The total
population of Lebanon is just under 4\1/2\ million. The Zaatari
camp in Jordan, the world's second largest refugee camp is now
its fourth largest city. The United Nations-run camp is chaotic
with growing lawlessness and reports of sexual abuse, violence,
and extremist recruitment.
Just this week there have been reports that the number of
Syrian refugees crossing into Jordan jumped nearly ten-fold
last week to an average of 900 per day, its highest level in
months. There are 40,000 waiting just over the border in Syria.
Jordan is on the verge of an economic crisis with strains on
its water supply and its electrical grid. Lebanon is struggling
to absorb refugees into cities and towns rather than camps,
creating societal tensions as competition for jobs increases.
Last week, the High Commissioner for Refugees released a
video of 1,300 Syrian refugees living in an underground parking
lot in Lebanon. We could go on and on with tragic stories like
this.
I understand that a humanitarian response of this scale is
not easy, and I want to thank Assistant Secretary Richard and
Assistant Administrator Lindborg and their staffs for their
tireless work. I want to thank the hundreds of implementing
partners and the NGOs that are on the ground risking their
lives to provide food and medical care to the Syrian people.
They are doing an exceptional job in extraordinarily difficult
circumstances, and I don't think that they get the credit that
they deserve. And perhaps after this hearing they will receive
even a little bit more.
Despite these difficulties, the United States must continue
to lead the worldwide humanitarian response effort. Assistant
Secretary Richard, I have no doubt that you and your State
Department colleagues have had countless meetings and phone
calls with our partners around the world reiterating the need
for robust and swift response as the number of refugees
continues to climb. And I do believe that we have a moral
obligation to help those in need. We do, but we also can't do
it alone.
The United States has given over $1.1 billion. We know that
many of our friends around the world can do more. Assistant
Secretary Richard, I hope our discussion today will shed some
light as to why there has been a relative lack of funding
coming from some of our allies.
In addition to increased funding, what more can we be doing
to strengthen host countries? What can we do to reduce the
tensions between host country populations and refugees? Shall
we continue to funnel most of our aid through the United
Nations? What conversations are taking place with regional
partners on the need to keep open borders, and what would be
the impact of closing those borders?
Unfortunately, this crisis doesn't appear to be ending in
the near future. Even if a political settlement is reached in
Syria, the humanitarian fallout will likely impact the region
for years to come. Despite the immediate and ongoing nature of
this response, we have to plan for the long term and we have to
be willing to focus for the long term.
I want to thank the witnesses again. I look forward to what
I hope will be an informative and productive session, and I
yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Dr. Yoho of Florida is
recognized.
Mr. Yoho. Madam Chair, I have no comments. I look forward
to the testimonies. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Mr. Cicciline of Rhode Island.
Mr. Cicciline. Thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking
Member Deutch for holding today's hearing on the Syrian Refugee
Crisis.
The current situation in Syria is deeply troubling. For
over 2 years, President Bashar al Assad has attacked both rebel
forces and civilians within Syria. In the past several weeks
we've had many, many discussions regarding the use of chemical
weapons in Syria, and how the United States and the world
should respond to such use.
In our efforts to come up with a solution regarding
chemical weapons we have largely lost sight of the other
ongoing humanitarian issues surrounding this crisis. Over 2
million Syrians have been forced to seek refuge in neighboring
countries, and millions of others have been displaced
internally. It is clear that the international community must
do more to assist those most in need, especially when one
considers that roughly half of all Syrian refugees are
children.
I am pleased that we will focus today on the global
responses to the ongoing refugee crisis caused by the conflict
in Syria. I hope this discussion will recognize the particular
difficulties facing the most at risk Syrians, especially all
minority groups.
The message must be clear, however. There must be an
ongoing international response to this grave crisis which, of
course, includes the United States, but also with strong
support from the rest of the world. And I, too, want to
acknowledge the Ambassador who is with us today from the
Kingdom of Jordan who shared with us some important information
about the challenges facing Jordan in this work, and I want to
recognize the extraordinary approach of many, many generations
of welcoming refugees into the Kingdom of Jordan, and the care
with which they are attempting to provide services to those
refugees, and the responsibility of the entire world to be part
of that effort. And thank you, Madam Ambassador, for your
earlier words. I look very much forward to hearing from our
witnesses today on this very important subject, and I yield
back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, sir. Mr. Smith of New Jersey
is recognized.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, and I
appreciate the courtesy extended to me and others to sit in on
this panel.
The Syrian civil war has become the worst ongoing
humanitarian crisis on earth according to the World Health
Organization. The number of refugees fleeing into neighboring
countries expanding almost ten-fold to more than 2 million in
the past year with another 5 million Syrians internally
displaced. Civil war-related deaths have risen by almost a
factor of four to well in excess of 100,000 in that same
period.
Humanitarian assistance is now reaching 3.5 million Syrians
across the country. Consequently, as USAID Assistant
Administrator Nancy Lindborg will testify, the current U.N.
Humanitarian Appeals for Syria represent the largest total in
the history of U.N. appeals. They now comprise nearly half of
the U.N.'s entire global appeals. However, the generosity of
the international community has run into significant obstacles.
According to a recent report by the U.N. Commission on Inquiry
on Syria, there have been a string, and I quote him here, ``of
systematic attacks on hospitals and medical staff. Attacks on
hospitals and health care facilities and their staffs were
documented in Hama, Homs, Idlib, Daraa, Ar-Raqqah, and
Damascus. Syrian Government forces shelled a field hospital in
Hama killing and injuring medical personnel and destroying the
facilities. Rebel fighters from Farouq Brigade attacked a
national hospital as part of a broader offensive on Homs making
no attempt whatsoever to protect civilians, or patients, or
medical personnel.''
Ms. Lindborg will point out in her testimony that one of
the NGOs that we partner with, there are some 37 medical staff
who have been killed, 21 injured, and 13 arrested or missing.
This is absolutely unconscionable for either rebels or Assad's
troops to be targeting medical personnel as they try to save
the bleeding and the wounded.
U.N. Commission Report cites violation of international law
again by both government and rebel forces who have positioned
troops, snipers, and even tanks in and around medical
facilities. The Red Crescent has seen 22 of its workers in
Syria killed in instances that they believe were intentional
targeting.
Finally, the refugee IDP situation in Syria as a result of
Syria's human rights violations that are currently going
unchecked. That's why I and 15 of our colleagues last week
introduced House Concurrent Resolution 51 to create a Syrian
War Crimes Tribunal that will begin the process of establishing
the culpability of fighting forces in Syria, and provide the
certitude of punishment for those who commit these atrocities.
I thank the chair.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. Ms. Meng of New
York. Thank you.
Ms. Meng. Thank you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member, and our
witnesses for being here today. I look forward to hearing from
you about the current state of the Syrian refugee crisis.
This is a great tragedy which we do have an obligation to
address. It's necessary to look beyond the numbers and the
stories here. We must consider the effects of the refugees on
Syria's neighbors and regional stability. We must consider who
the refugees are and whether they are current or future friends
of the United States.
In assessing the American response we need to balance the
obligation to act with a need to protect our limited resources
and identify core American objectives. I look forward to the
insights of today's witnesses on how best to achieve all these
goals in relation to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Thank you. I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. Now I'll recognize
Mr. Chabot of Ohio who is the subcommittee chairman on Asia and
the Pacific.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Madam Chair, for calling this
important hearing this morning to examine a critical issue
which in light of all the bad news coming out of Syria could
otherwise be overlooked, and that's the refugee crisis not only
affecting displaced Syrians who have fled the brutal Assad
regime, but the neighboring nations who are absorbing probably
millions of refugees.
We know that countries like Lebanon and Turkey, Iraq and
Egypt are hosting fleeing Syrians. And Jordan, as it has
historically done with Palestinians, Iraqis, and now hundreds
of thousands of Syrians is again providing refuge for its
neighbors.
It's important to note that an unchecked influx of refugees
can overload a host country's infrastructure and destabilize
its own civil society, so I think it's an important issue and I
look forward to hearing our witnesses, and specifically them
detailing the role our Government is playing and what kind of
assistance and cooperation the region is getting from the
international community.
I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Excellent opening statements,
and we're so pleased now to turn to our witnesses. We've got
two great panelists.
First, we welcome Ms. Anne Richard, Assistant Secretary of
State for the Bureau on Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Prior to this position, Ms. Richard was the Vice President of
Government Relations and Advocacy for the International Rescue
Committee, and has served in numerous positions in government,
including at the State Department, the Office of Management and
Budget, and the Peace Corps.
Ms. Richard has authored several monographs, reports, and
opinion pieces on issues related to foreign assistance and
humanitarian crises.
We also welcome Ms. Nancy Lindborg, who is the Assistant
Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and
Humanitarian Assistance at USAID where she leads efforts
focused on crisis prevention, response, recovery, and
transition.
Since being sworn into office in October 2010, Ms. Lindborg
has led teams in response to the ongoing Syria crisis, the
Sahel 2012, and Horn of Africa 2011 droughts, the Arab Spring,
and numerous other crises around the world.
Prior to joining USAID, she was President of Mercy Corps
for 14 years.
Thank you, ladies, for being with us, and we will begin
with you, Ms. Richard.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ANNE C. RICHARD, ASSISTANT
SECRETARY, BUREAU OF POPULATION, REFUGEES, AND MIGRATION, U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Ms. Richard. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, Ranking
Member Deutch, members of the subcommittee, and also I think
we're privileged to have other chairs of the other
subcommittees here which shows the seriousness, I think, with
which you are taking this crisis, for which we are very, very
grateful. We're very grateful you're calling attention to this
enormous crisis.
I want to thank you for holding this hearing, and also
express our appreciation for the resources authorized and
appropriated by the Congress. These funds are saving lives and
easing the suffering of millions of people.
Please accept my longer testimony for the record.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Without objection.
Ms. Richard. What I'd like to do is speak very quickly and
briefly about the main points. This crisis is vastly different
than 1 year ago, and alarmingly so. Last September we were
concerned about a refugee population of about 230,000, and
today it stands at 2 million, so nearly 10 times that earlier
number. Combined with 4 million or 5 million people now
displaced inside Syria, as you've said nearly one-third of
Syria's population has left their homes.
This is now the largest displacement crisis in the world.
To put that in perspective, imagine the entire population of
Washington, DC, being forced from their homes and then double
that number. More people have fled the country than either of
the crises in Rwanda or Bosnia. Two-thirds of the refugees are
women and children.
The numbers above are shocking by themselves, but behind
them are millions of individual tragedies. I have met families
blown apart by the violence; fathers killed or missing, the
elderly suffering from lack of medical care, children
traumatized by what they've witnessed. We have seen a widow
struggling to find food for her five children and toddlers
horribly disfigured by bombings. Families live in shanty towns
with open sewerage prey to disease and exploitation.
The point of these images is to stress that amid the
discussion of the Syrian regime's atrocities and the political
debates about the best way forward, our efforts, as leaders
among nations, should continue and even intensify to assist the
innocent Syrian civilians.
The United States is not taking on this challenge alone.
Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt have allowed the vast
majority of the 2 million refugees to cross into their
territory. Other donors have provided important assistance, and
in the midst of this tragedy U.S. assistance is saving lives
and making a real difference.
The United States has provided $1 billion in aid since the
crisis began. Our aid, channeled through United Nations
organizations and reputable international non-governmental
organizations helps get the widow with five children linked to
one of our partner non-governmental organizations that provides
food and medical assistance.
UNICEF efforts help insure the horribly wounded 3-year-old
I mentioned got medical attention. The toys UNICEF brought made
him smile for the first time in months.
Beyond food, medical care, and other traditional
assistance, along with USAID, we are using innovative methods
to address the urban population providing food vouchers and
debit cards for use in local markets, and cash assistance to
help refugees pay rent. We support programs to keep children
protected and to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based
violence.
Overall, we are helping millions of people, but this
assistance is spread thin, many remain very difficult to reach
and we have many concerns. We need to help not only refugees in
camps, but also those living on their own, or with relatives in
villages, or cities where hundreds of thousands of destitute
families are trying to survive.
Increased assistance by other donors is critical to get
help to more people, development funding from international
leaders like the World Bank is needed in addition to
humanitarian assistance to help the countries that neighbor
Syria. Lebanon, Jordan, and Northern Iraq, in particular, need
support for their economies, infrastructure, and public
services.
I remain concerned about safety in refugee camps, about the
spread of disease in camps, and overcrowded neighborhoods, and
the many Syrian children who are not in school. And we support
programs to tackle each of these challenges.
Michael Clawson of the Save the Children met with refugees
in Amman on Monday. He sent me an email and told me that one
10-year-old girl he met whose father, a taxi driver, had been
missing in Syria for 1 year, and now lives in East Amman with
her family said she wants to grow up and be a doctor because if
something happens to you or someone dear to you, you can help
them. I was so touched by that. This girl who's lost so much
wants to help other people. That's the future orientation we
all need to nurture in these children.
Our greatest concern, of course, is for those still inside
Syria who remain vulnerable to attack and whom aid agencies
often cannot reach. What good is getting aid inside Syria if
the aid recipient is caught in the crossfire, bombed, or gassed
by his or her own government?
It is well known that war is not ended by more and better
aid deliveries. Peace must be negotiated and we salute our
colleagues, American diplomats and their counterparts from
other countries striving to do so. Until then, we will urgently
need to continue our work and need your support, and the
support of the American people in our efforts. I look forward
to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Richard follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much.
Ms. Lindborg.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE NANCY E. LINDBORG, ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT AND HUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE , U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Ms. Lindborg. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Deutch,
members of the subcommittee and guests, thank you very much for
holding this hearing today, and allowing us to focus attention
on the very serious humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria and
the region. And a special thanks for your continued support for
the humanitarian programs here, and really around the world.
This represents the best of American values, and it is making a
difference in the lives of millions every day. And I welcome
the opportunity to update you on the humanitarian crisis, our
response, and the continued challenges because the one constant
in the Syrian crisis is the continued toll on the Syrian
people.
As a number of you all have noted, children are out of
school for the last 2 years, women are enduring rape and
violence, the one-third of Syrians who are forced out of their
homes and more Syrians who are now forcibly displaced than
anywhere else in the world. The pace of escalation, as noted,
is truly staggering, and the numbers are hard to truly
comprehend.
Just in the past year, death rates have gone from 26,000 to
more than 100,000. There is an estimated 5,000 people killed
every month, many of them women and children. The number who
need our help inside Syria 1 year ago was 2.6 million, now it's
more than 6.8 million. Imagine the equivalent of all of
Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut, all of those
populations combined needing humanitarian assistance.
So, as the crisis has escalated we have also accelerated
our humanitarian response. Since last year we have doubled the
number of partners that we have working inside Syria. We've
shored up systems and supply lines to increase our ability to
reach people throughout the country even in conflict that
continues to move around.
Our assistance is more than $1 billion region-wide, and
we're reaching 3.5 million people inside Syria in all 14
governates. We're working through all possible channels to
provide life saving assistance, and we're focusing on three key
areas that provide a lifeline for people who are under siege
inside Syria.
The first is medical care, and we started 2 years ago
really focusing on trauma care. As the conflicts persisted
we've had to broaden that out to meet medical needs of women
and children who no longer have access to health care, and we
now support about 260 medical facilities across Syria.
When warm weather hit last year we were worried about
communicable diseases spiking so we established an early
warning system that enables us to have early disease protection
and a fast response. As noted, women and children especially at
risk, gender-based violence is rampant inside Syria, so this is
a special focus of our programming.
Secondly, food assistance. We are helping to feed 3 million
people inside Syria, and more than 1 million refugees every
month through the World Food Program and our NGO partners.
We're meeting those needs using the flexible mechanisms through
our Emergency Food Security Program. This lets us do local
regional purchase and food vouchers. And recently there was
just a flood of refugees that went into Iraq, 44,000 in 1 week.
We were able to airlift 15 metric tons of USAID nutritional
bars to get there fast and meet their needs.
I was recently in Beirut and Amman, and in both cities I
met with groups of women, and they have these stories of having
to grab whatever they could as the bombs are falling. They're
grabbing shoes, clothes, their children, they're watching bombs
destroy their homes and their villages. So, they often have
nothing, and they're rotating as they flee conflict often two
to three times being displaced, so we also focus on vital
relief supplies, as well as clean water and sanitation as they
are displaced around the country.
Three enormous challenges; the first is access. We are not
able to reach everywhere we need to inside Syria. We've seen
some breakthroughs with cross line assistance, but a recent
U.N. Cross Line trip to Aleppo supposed to take 3 hours, it
took 3 days because they had to navigate 50 checkpoints along
the way. At every chance we continue to push for greater
humanitarian access, including cross-border.
The second is security. Aid workers continue to be
targeted. One of our partners, as Mr. Smith noted, has lost 37
medical staff, 21 injured, 13 arrested. Let me underscore that
we would be nowhere without the courage of the humanitarian aid
workers. Thank you for honoring them. They risk their lives
every single day. And the most profound security environment
means that we have to prioritize the safety of our partners and
the communities that they serve.
The third challenge is resources. As noted, this is an
enormous appeal. It's a protracted crisis that is now a
regional crisis and an international crisis that requires the
entire international community to step up to the plate. We're
working to develop a comprehensive platform that enables us to
bring our development assistance in line with our relief
assistance, particularly in the communities in Jordan and
Lebanon where the refugee burden is stressing key
infrastructure. Our contingency funds like the USAID Complex
Crisis Fund is being deployed to help communities meet these
needs.
Humanitarian assistance will not end the bloodshed, but it
is saving lives. It's helping alleviate suffering. It is a
critical lifeline to people in need, and we will remain very
committed to providing that kind of assistance.
Thank you so much for your support, and I look forward to
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lindborg follows:]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you to both of you for the great
work that you do, and all of the folks that you help.
I wanted to ask two questions, one on radicalization and
another one on gender violence. As you have pointed out, the
vast majority of those impacted by this crisis have been women,
children, and the elderly. Alarmingly high number of Syrian
children not in school, and refugee and IDP kids seek anything
to latch onto to attempt to escape their hardships, and
sometimes that would embrace--they could embrace a radical
extremist form of Islam that is prevalent in the region, and is
always looking for new recruits, vulnerable, angry youth.
What can our agencies, USAID and the State Department do,
and other agencies, to insure that these kids don't embrace
this extremist ideology, but instead embrace the values of
peace, of freedom, respect for human rights, religious freedom?
Are we winning this battle, and what more can we do that we
aren't doing now? How can we work with agencies like UNICEF to
reach these children and get them the education that they need
so we don't see, as you referred to in your written testimony,
Ms. Richard, a lost generation of Syrian children?
And next on gender violence, as you pointed out there have
been terrible reports of gender-based violence, forced or
coerced child marriages in some of the Syrian refugee
communities. What can we do? What are we doing in conjunction
with other international NGOs and the U.N. to expand and
improve services to respond to gender-based violence, increased
access to safe spaces, awareness that there is access to
professionals who can provide support to victims? And what can
we do to empower girls, and women, and raise awareness of their
rights, and give them other options rather than having to enter
into an all too early marriage? Thank you, ladies.
Ms. Richard. Well, on the issue of children, we have
programs in all of the places that refugees are arriving to
help the children, especially, because we don't want to see
them idle or just left out in the open, or preyed upon by
adults or others. So, in Jordan where children make up
approximately 54 percent of the refugees, U.S. funding supports
programming for safe spaces for children, access to schools,
and provides childhood immunizations. And I visited some of the
safe spaces for children in the Zaatari camp, and kids there
were like kids anywhere. They were playing, they were happy,
they were singing. It's a nice counterpoint to some of the
horrible things I see, to spend time with kids when I travel.
And some of that is run by UNICEF with our funding, and it's a
really good program. And there's several of those in Zaatari,
and I think we need more.
In Lebanon, we are--more than 115,000 children have
received counseling and trauma services from UNICEF, and we're
trying to--because children there in Lebanon are not in camps,
we're trying to reach them in the places where they are, and
they're living in very overcrowded conditions. And we're very
concerned that throughout the region children are not going to
school. And going to school is one of the safest places for
children to be, and it keeps them interested and educated, and
gives them a future.
It's important to point out, perhaps, that in Iraq recently
we were talking about the influx of over 60,000 new Syrian
refugees. U.S. humanitarian partners are identifying children
separated from their families to reunite them with their
families, and that's a very important piece of the humanitarian
work, as well, is bringing families back together.
I want to quickly also before turning to Nancy mention that
we are very concerned by reports of gender-based violence,
including sexual violence. We're working very closely with the
humanitarian partners.
One of the basics is that we build into our aid programs a
focus on the needs of women and girls so that they get their
basic needs covered, shelter, food, clothing, water and
sanitation. And then they're not just pushed to the side by the
biggest guy in a camp or in a distribution line.
We encourage all our humanitarian partners to consult with
women and girls, ensure they have access to assistance, address
their unique needs, and identify the risks.
In addition to that, though, we try to fund specialized
services and support aimed at preventing and responding to
violence, exploitation, abuse. This includes medical and
counseling services for rape survivors. We already mentioned
the safe learning and healing spaces for children, particularly
girls, in efforts to raise awareness about the rest of urgent
issues like early marriage. So, it's not just one thing, it's a
range of services. And as Nancy knows, because we've been
talking about this practically on a weekly basis lately, we
need to as humanitarian agencies do a better job of preventing
bad things from happening in the first place, in the early
stages of a crisis, and not just help the victims later on. So,
we're trying to really focus on that piece in the coming days.
Thank you for your question.
Ms. Lindborg. Well, as you can tell this is an issue that
we're very seized with, and all the approaches that Anne
identified we're working with our partners inside Syria, as
well. There's the additional challenge, of course, of people
moving around, a lot of the schools are occupied by internally
displaced families, but we do work through all of our partners
with an emphasis on being very aware of specific gender needs,
and trying to provide that protection. The child services
through our network of supported health clinics and hospitals,
there's a focus on providing assistance for victims of rape or
gender-based violence, and making sure that the right kind of
supplies are available both in our emergency supplies and
through our health clinics.
Psycho social counseling is really important, as well,
because the trauma that people go through, it will have
generational impact, so it's critical that as much as possible
people get the kind of help they need.
I would just add one thing, and that is we're also really
concerned about trafficking of young girls. And through our
mission in Jordan, we have a program that is working to raise
the awareness of this as an issue to pay close attention to.
Nothing is more horrifying than thinking of being a young girl
in Tunisia who ends up being trafficked in Zaatari camps, so
these are the kinds of issues that we are absolutely seized
with.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much for your answers. Mr.
Deutch.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I laid out some questions in my opening statement that
hopefully we'll be able to get back to, but I wanted to just go
in a different direction for a moment.
I am incredibly thankful, as we said earlier, for the
tireless work that's being done now by the Bureau, and by
USAID, and all of our partners, but I'm concerned about this
constant stream of reports that we get. And I want you to chime
in on this, that the Syrian people continue to think that the
United States isn't doing anything. We've heard reports that in
refugee camps countries like South Korea and Saudi Arabia are
openly proudly branding their assistance, dramatically less
than ours, while we may have a tiny U.S. flag under the U.N.
logo indicating that we're one of many countries that
contribute to funding to the U.N.
Equally troubling is when the President or Secretary goes
on TV and pledges hundreds of millions of dollars to the
crisis, and then even though we're the largest donor and one of
the only donors to actually fulfill--to meet all of our
pledges, the Syrian people see no direct U.S. assistance, and
think that not only are we doing nothing, but then think that
we're making false promises. Is that accurate, are those
reports accurate?
Ms. Lindborg. You know, we have paid a great deal of
attention to looking at all the ways that we can help the
people of Syria understand that the people of the United States
are standing with them, and in an environment where our aid
workers are being targeted. So branding is one part of the
solution, and we have been able to get branded plastic sheeting
into the IDP camps in Northern Syria.
We're also----
Mr. Deutch. I'm sorry, branded plastic?
Ms. Lindborg. Branded plastic sheeting which is used--big,
heavy duty plastic sheeting that's used for shelter for people
who need temporary shelter. It's a staple of the relief world.
We've also just negotiated with WFP to ensure that all of
the vouchers and all of the electronic cards that they use in
our food programs in the refugee camps have the U.S. flag and
the U.S. logo on it, so that will start in Jordan in a couple
of weeks, and then we'll move that to Lebanon, as well. It's
accompanied with a campaign of posters and banners.
Mr. Deutch. I'm sorry. How many people will receive those
cards?
Ms. Lindborg. We feed--it will probably be close to 1
million people who receive those cards.
Mr. Deutch. Okay.
Ms. Lindborg. And it's in Jordan and Lebanon. And then
we'll--as I noted, we got the USAID nutritional biscuits
airlifted almost immediately to the refugees in Iraq.
We also--our partners are working inside Syria with MOUs
with the relief committees and with the bakeries in many
instances so there's awareness at the community level that the
assistance is coming from the American people.
We continue to also do media campaigns. Anne and I have
both traveled repeatedly to the region. I was just there a few
weeks ago. One of the main things we do is Arab language media,
and media that beams directly into Syria, so that they hear
repeatedly that we are providing this assistance, and we're
working with our partners to provide all kinds of social media
information, and we do a regular update of the Syria diaspora.
Mr. Deutch. I appreciate that, and I applaud those efforts,
and anything we can do to be helpful, please let us know.
Ms. Lindborg. These kinds of hearings are helpful, as well,
so thank you for holding this hearing because it does allow us
to put an underline on all the assistance that the United
States is doing.
Mr. Deutch. Great. Circling back to something I had brought
up earlier. Assistant Secretary Richard, with a few exceptions
the international response to the difficulties in Syria has
been on the whole disappointing. The U.N. appeal for Syrians is
less than 50 percent funded, most donors aren't meeting their
pledges, many wealthy countries are donating very little, if
anything at all, to relief efforts.
I understand that in addition to implementing relief
assistance, the Bureau is essentially responsible for
humanitarian diplomacy, as well, so what efforts are the State
Department and the Bureau leading to implore our allies to
fulfill their funding needs? And is the humanitarian crisis
being stressed in every major diplomatic meeting around the
world? Is this on the agenda in every major meeting where we
are involved?
Ms. Richard. We are working to get this on the agenda of
every major meeting we possibly can, and we're making real
pests of ourselves on the 7th floor of the State Department.
And I can say with assurance that we're getting on the agenda--
--
Mr. Deutch. I'm sorry, I'm almost out of time, but you're
making pests of yourselves to whom?
Ms. Richard. To the people that handle the paper up there,
because we keep running down the hallway with talking points
about the urgency of asking everyone the Secretary meets with
to please support the humanitarian efforts that the world is
putting together.
Mr. Deutch. I would just in my last remaining seconds, if I
could have 15 additional seconds, Madam Chairman, it is--there
should be no reason that you should have to pester anyone at
the State Department to make sure that on the agenda of every
meeting taking place is the greatest humanitarian crisis taking
place in the world today, and the role that the United States
is playing to help address it. And I yield back.
Ms. Richard. I agree with you, and I think it's probably my
own zealous nature that I'm over-papering the 7th floor more
than they need because they're allies in this, of course. And
this week we had a meeting in Stockholm on Monday of the U.N.
Emergency Directors. My deputy was there. Next week we have
several meetings around the U.N. General Assembly that will
focus on the humanitarian piece of this. And the week after
we'll be in Geneva for the Executive Committee meeting of the
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Normally, I leave the
delegation to that. I asked Bill Burns, our Deputy Secretary,
to lead it this year, so he's flying in for Monday because of
the importance of this. And it wasn't a very hard thing to
convince him.
Mr. Deutch. And even if we are, and you are not here to
talk about chemical weapons, but if the current negotiations
and the agreement, if everything plays out exactly as we want,
and every last bit of chemical weapons is removed from Syria in
3 months, 6 months, in 1 year, whenever it is, this crisis will
remain. And that's the point that I am so glad that you
continue to press and will do so especially at the U.N. when
the General Assembly meets. Thanks, Madam Chairman.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Deutch. Mr. Smith,
the chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, is recognized.
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. And thank you,
Secretary Richard, thank you, Ms. Lindborg, for your
extraordinary efforts on behalf of those who are suffering each
and every day.
I have just a few questions. Has the targeting of medical
personnel been the subject of diplomatic efforts, of Secretary
of State Kerry, and what has been the feedback? I mean, it
seems to me if there's anyone in this crisis that you don't go
after the people who are trying to save other people's lives.
And what can be done to increase security aid? That was my
first question.
Second, I know, Ms. Lindborg, you mentioned the issue of
trafficking, and I thank you for doing so. And I'm wondering in
the refugee camps themselves are there plans in every one of
those camps? We know that the nefarious networks of human
trafficking love to prey upon people in vulnerable situations
whether it be manmade like war, or nature-made like a tsunami,
or whatever. Is there a specific protocol established in these
camps to ensure that the traffickers are not going in and
kidnaping especially young girls?
Last year, thirdly, I chaired a hearing on the plight of
Christians in Syria. And the consensus among our private panel
was that this is a genocide. The Christians are not dying
because they're in the way or it's collateral damage. They are
being deliberately targeted precisely because they're
Christians, and many of the rebels are the ones, particularly
al-Qaeda rebels, are the ones that are doing it. And I'm
wondering in the population in the refugee camps and the mass
exodus that's occurring if there is a breakdown not only by
ethnicity, but especially on the religious side, Sunni, Shia,
and Christian, which would be helpful to know who is it that's
fleeing? Maybe it's everyone, but is there any kind of effort
to break that down?
Fourthly, the NGO partner, I don't know if you wanted to
identify them, maybe for reasons you wouldn't want to, who have
suffered and died.
Then, finally, on surveillance. We know in large numbers of
people in the refugee situation all get pulled into a camp like
this that there are infectious disease challenges. And I'm
wondering if any have emerged yet, and whether or not CDC is
tracking to ensure that something does not have a breakout?
And you did mention the psychological trauma, Ms. Lindborg.
How are people identified? You know, you did mention in
country, at least, you know, we've got 260 medical facilities.
How are they dealt with? What kind of medical, psychological
treatment are we providing in the international community?
Ms. Lindborg. Thank you for those questions. Let me tackle
some of them, and I'll turn the camp questions over to Anne.
Starting with the disease surveillance, what we were most
concerned about, and this in inside Syria, not in the refugee
camps, were as the system broke down that there would be an
emergence of polio, of measles, schistosomiasis, and those
kinds of diseases, cholera, that once they emerge they can
quickly spread. So, CDC has been very active working with us
along with the Syria Opposition Assistance Coordination Unit to
set up a system that does allow that kind of early detection.
It's about communication and then having the ability to do the
fast response.
On the psycho social question, you know, inside there's
less ability to do more sophisticated psychological counseling,
but it's an opportunity to help bring people together in spaces
where they can move past the more direct trauma. There are a
variety of faster techniques that help people deal with trauma,
and engage in activities that give them a more hopeful way
forward and feel safer.
On the Christian questions, you know, we are working
throughout the country on the basis of need. There are
definitely Christian communities, particularly in the so called
Christian Valley in Homs, Tartus, and Aleppo, and we have
definitely seen needs. We are able to provide assistance.
We see that people as they leave whether inside Syria or in
the surrounding region, they tend to go to places where they
feel safe. And sometimes that's based on ethnicity, but not
always.
I met with a woman in Beirut who had fled her home, and she
was so upset at what her country had become. She said I don't
recognize this division, this hatred between people. This is
not who we are as Syrians. So, even as this happens I think
there is still a basis of Syrians who really want to return to
a place where there's not that tearing between divisions.
The targeting of medical workers, I can only echo your
absolute unconscionable comment. This is unconscionable, and it
is happening with a variety of people doing that targeting,
both the regime and some of the more extremist groups. There
is, unfortunately, not an easy fix for that. We wish there
were. I think accountability will have to be a part of the
larger set of accountabilities that come out of this kind of a
war.
Mr. Smith. Is it being raised at the diplomatic level?
Ms. Lindborg. Absolutely. This is something that we will
raise at the UNGA meetings next week, that Anne mentioned. It's
part of needing better access and better security. The
humanitarian crisis, as Mr. Deutch said, this will not go away,
and we need to look at all the ways that the international
community can come together to provide greater security and
greater access for these people who have suffered now for 2
years.
Ms. Richard. Can I add on to that? You know, we fund the
International Committee of the Red Cross, it's one of our major
partners in responding to crises overseas. And they're
throughout the region, including inside Syria. And one of their
campaigns that preexist the Syria crisis is that we have to
stop harming medical personnel, medical facilities, hospitals,
clinics, patients, the doctors in crises. And we've seen in
Syria that they've been actually targeted to a horrible effect
because the facilities have been harmed, and then the doctors
have fled, so it's a real challenge getting the medical care
into the country that is so desperately needed there.
This is one of the things we've talked to Valerie Amos
about, the Emergency Response Coordinator, the U.N.'s top
humanitarian, and she was looking at ways through discussions
in the U.N. Security Council to try to get agreement on the
importance of some basic humanitarian principles. And as you
know, it's been very, very difficult to get Security Council
resolutions produced. And you know, I'm sure you're quite well
aware of the sort of dynamic up there, but we have not given
up. We keep trying to look for opportunities, and next week is
one, to get agreement among the major countries involved on
some basic protections for people.
On trafficking, we are doing a couple of things. One is,
our partners like UNICEF, like Save the Children that work
focused on children in the camps are trying to make sure that
someone is keeping an eye on the kids and that they're given
safe places to go.
The flip piece of that is trying to enhance the security of
a camp like Zaatari camp, and we're working with the Jordanian
Government, the Jordanian authorities to have more police
patrols inside the camp, more training for police. And then
also we've got a program that I mention in my testimony, my
written testimony with our sister bureau, the International
Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau to train refugees so that
they can have a community watch to enhance their own security.
But one of the reasons people allow their daughters to be
trafficked is because they think that their situation is
desperate, and so we have got to get them to feel like they
have a future and that this is not the best option for their
daughters.
Finally, on Christians fleeing, you know, I think we're all
more sensitized to religious minorities in the Middle East
since the Iraq situation, and this conversation with the
committee on the importance of keeping an eye out for
minorities has been, as you all know, has been an issue of the
last few years, and that's no different now with the Syrian
crisis. You know, it's a majority Muslim region, but having
traveled to the region, there is a tremendous history of--you
know, when I went to Syria, I kept realizing all the place
names were from St. Paul's travels, so we have to be aware of
different groups in the region and their different needs, and
tailor our response to their needs.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Smith. Mr.
Cicciline.
Mr. Cicciline. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I have four questions I'll just set out, and then whoever
is in the best position to answer them. Of the 6.8 million
people who are currently in need of humanitarian aid, what is
your best estimate as to the percentage of individuals that are
actually receiving assistance? Two, to follow-up on Mr.
Deutch's question, we hear very often about sort of lack of
understanding of the United States effort. Obviously, we're
leading in terms of our financial support. Many countries have
not fulfilled their commitments, many in the region that would
seem to have a greater interest in stability even than we do
don't seem to be doing their part. So, what's your assessment
as to why that is happening, why these donor countries are not
either fulfilling their obligations? Who should be investing in
this humanitarian assistance in a more substantial way, who are
not? And I'm saying name names, I think it would give the
international community--we should create a list of shame of
countries who are not doing their part.
Third is this question of how we identify the support. I
recognize the efforts you've described with going on to social
media and saying what we're doing, but if those in need are not
getting things, if the things that are improving their lives,
water, food, housing don't bear the symbols of the United
States, it sounds a lot like the first time they're hearing
about U.S. assistance is in the military strike which is
problematic. So, I think we want to hear about what we're doing
to be sure people understand that we are fulfilling our
responsibilities as humanitarians.
And, finally, everyone I think who has looked at this
humanitarian crisis recognizes it is a long-term problem, as
Mr. Deutch mentioned. And what are we doing to kind of think
about and plan the international effort to respond to this more
long term?
So, I thank you for your testimony, and I look forward to
hearing your responses.
Ms. Lindborg. Those are all excellent questions, and of the
6.8 million who are estimated to be in need, it varies how many
are reached by which kind of assistance. Food is obviously a
daily need, some of the others are a one-time distribution. We
estimate that the U.S. assistance reaches about 3\1/2\ million
people throughout Syria. The World Food Program alone has
targeted about 2 million people to be reached.
We know that our combined international humanitarian
assistance is not enough to meet all the needs. We know that
there needs to be more, and as I think we've all noted, the
pace of the needs are escalating faster than our ability to
have the funding or the capacity to meet the needs. And this is
part of the crisis dimensions that we're dealing with.
In terms of donors who haven't stepped up to the plate, you
know, we were very heartened in January that Kuwait sponsored
the U.N. pledging conference, and followed that up with a $300
million contribution. We need the rest of that region to
similarly step up, and to do so in a coordinated way so that it
is a part of the ability to maximize the effectiveness of our
overall assistance.
This is absolutely long term, and as Anne mentioned, we
were at a meeting on Monday, our Deputy is in Sweden to look at
how do we build a comprehensive platform. We are seeing in
places like Lebanon, for example, that there's a convergence of
the highest poverty levels of Lebanese with the greatest number
of refugees. And by doing that kind of joint mapping and joint
planning between the entire community, the World Bank, our
development actors, our humanitarian actors, we can maximize
the impact of our collective assistance so that we're investing
in infrastructure that assists communities as they bear the
weight of these refugees, as well as the refugees.
Ms. Richard. On a couple of additional mentions, perhaps,
in terms of the commitments I want to reinforce this praise for
Kuwait because they not only made a big pledge of $300 million
and held the pledging conference, they followed through quickly
with the funding, and they funneled it through the United
Nations and other international organizations meaning that they
took a seat at this combined enterprise of international
response that we are such a leader on, and so they didn't go it
alone, or go off and do something uncoordinated. So, that is
really the kind of response we're looking for from other
countries, so the U.S., Western Europe, Kuwait, but then also
Japan and Canada have really been the leaders in responding.
And I mentioned that group to a bunch of Ambassadors and left
Japan off, and I got a little visit from the Economics officer
at the Japanese Embassy and he showed me how much they had
done, and it was very impressive, so I want to specifically
mention Japan today.
Also, on the issue of letting people know that we're doing
things, you know, we are doing more I think this time than ever
before in refugee camps to include the U.S. flag which is such
a recognizable brand on the projects that we're funding, but
also when refugees come across the border from Syria into
Jordan, the first flag they see, of course, is the Jordanian
flag on the uniforms of the border patrol who are helping them
across, but then the second flag they see is the U.S. flag on
the side of the bus run by the International Organization for
Migration that takes them and brings them to places where they
get care. And that's because we are the leading donor to the
International Organization for Migration. But we will continue
to do whatever it takes to get the message out. The social
media has so many different avenues, we're doing all of them
from Twitter, to Google Plus hangouts and things that I don't
even understand the technology for. If we're asked, we do it.
I do think this is a long term problem. You know, 1 year
ago what we were hoping was that the fighting would end
quickly, change the dynamic inside Syria and people could go
home. We no longer say that. I think this is something that
we'll be working on for years ahead.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Cicciline. Mr.
Weber is recognized.
Mr. Weber. Thank you.
Regarding the trafficking of young girls, in the Texas
legislature we were able to pass a bill where we were able to
do a lot of things about human trafficking, so that's one of
the things that we remain pretty focused on. Lots of questions
about that.
Is there anybody keeping records about the perpetrators? Is
that just out of the question when something like this happens?
You know, in the Texas legislature we were able to begin to
train law enforcement that when a young girl was caught in
prostitution, the first thing we ought to be looking at is was
she sex traded, and not just assume that she's guilty of a
crime. Are we able--is there any semblance of being able to do
that in these refugee camps and areas, and is anybody keeping
records on it, either one of you.
Ms. Richard. Well, I think, you know, it varies. Like we
said, in Lebanon there are no camps, you know, and Syria and
Lebanon it's more spontaneous settlements, so that's probably
the most tricky places to keep an eye on people. In Turkey
there's very good security. You know, the Turks have built over
20 camps now, and have run them on a certain level that is very
safe, and just much more generous than sort of the norm in the
rest of the world. So, in Jordan the issue has been the
security of this large camp that's the size of a city, and as
the High Commissioner has said, when you have a city with no
police force it's very, very dangerous, so that is why we have
been taking all these extra measures in recent months to--
there's now--the Ambassador is here so she probably is more
expert on this than I am, but I was talking to our Ambassador
just the other--our Ambassador in Amman the other day about
this. There is a fence around it now that is complete. There is
a ditch, there is a wall, so there's a lot of things being done
so that people can't just disappear. They can't just be walked
off and no one has ever heard from them again.
Mr. Weber. I know that there's rankings, and forgive me, I
don't remember where they are, but we rank countries that are
good on human trafficking and that are bad on human
trafficking. How do these--how does Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey,
how do they fit in? Do we know?
Ms. Richard. We will get you that.
Mr. Weber. Yes.
Ms. Richard. And I'm very familiar with that report.
Mr. Weber. Right, absolutely.
Ms. Richard. It's sort of a brother organization of ours,
the J/TIP Trafficking Persons.
Mr. Weber. Right.
Ms. Richard. We were just talking about the report
yesterday but I don't know the answer to that question.
Mr. Weber. Well, I mean, I guess you can say they've been--
the countries have been gracious enough to open their borders
and let people in, so we can't expect them to police like you
said the fourth largest city with no police force. Are the U.N.
peacekeeping forces involved at all?
Ms. Richard. No, the responsibility is for the Jordanian
police, so we have a lot of conversations. When I go over I
meet with the Ministry of the Interior in addition to the folks
who are involved in planning and humanitarian response, and so
they are doing a lot right now. It's not that there's no--there
was no police inside the camp, and now there are--the police
that was around the perimeter is doing patrols on the inside.
And they're getting additional training from the British. The
Canadians have built them a barracks, and what we are doing is
trying to help the refugees themselves to enhance their own
protection in a way that in U.S. neighborhoods is normal, the
idea of having a community watch.
Mr. Weber. Right.
Ms. Lindborg. I would just add that, you know, counter
trafficking in persons is a significant global initiative that
both State and Aid are engaged in. And it really involves both
the security aspect, the border controls. It's also the kind of
awareness and alternative vision of options that's important
for families and for the girls themselves. And through the
USAID mission in Jordan, there's a new program going forward
that is specifically about raising awareness about this issue
in Jordan, because it is a relatively new problem that's
emerged through this crisis.
Mr. Weber. And forgive me, what is the weather like over
there, are they in winter, summer? You know, what are we
looking at here in the next few months?
Ms. Lindborg. So, that's a good question. We were very
concerned because it gets very hot during the summer, which is
why we were worried about communicable diseases and water
sanitation issues. It also gets quite cold in the winter, so we
are gearing up now for winterization campaigns to ensure
especially that displaced families have those essential
supplies, warm clothes, warm place to stay to survive the
winter.
Mr. Weber. Okay. Are we able--I know that in my reading was
it Lebanon or Jordan had agreed to keep their borders open,
which is good for refugees flowing in, but what about coming
out? Do we have checkpoints to keep young girls, for example,
from being trafficked outside?
Ms. Richard. All of the neighbors had open border policies
initially, and over time as the numbers have just swelled,
there are concerns that too many refugees are arriving, so we
are working with these countries to insure that they are not
alone in handling this influx, and that we can provide them
assistance through AID bilateral assistance, through aid
directly to the refugees, and we're trying to now enlist more
and more of the development institutions, like the World Bank
to help these countries manage this flow so they don't have to
shut down their borders, because that would be a terrible move
from the perspective of humanitarian response.
So, right now about 2,000 per night are crossing into
Lebanon, about 100 to 200, no, actually more, 250 to 300 per
night crossing into Jordan, 850 per night into Turkey, 1,000 a
day now into the Kurdish regions of Iraq now that--since the
end of August that's been the case. And we have less specific
numbers on Egypt. And are people going back into Syria? Yes,
smaller numbers are going back into Syria.
What we're concerned about is it's a risk being taken by
people who are perhaps the head of a family who wants to check
on their house or their property. It's a dangerous thing for
adults, men who decide to go back and fight. And what we are
trying to prevent happening is children going back and young
boys wanting to go back and fight, because that seems like an
attractive thing to them. So, we are working--our organizations
that we fund are working to try to convince children not to go
back in. And it is a very--particularly there I think the
Syria/Jordan border, it's a very--there are flows in both
directions.
Mr. Weber. Forgive me, Madam Chair, for taking so long but
you bring up an interesting point about going back and fighting
because one of the discussions during the discussion about
Syria, one of the points raised was why don't the people who
have been displaced, particularly the men and the young boys--
now, there are those who joined World War II and they were 16,
17 and lied about their age. So, I don't know what you're
calling young boys, but one of the discussions was why doesn't
those who are losing their country, why don't we arm them and
equip them to fight alongside the rebels and let them go back
and fight for their country? What are you considering to be a
young boy?
Ms. Richard. I was thinking of teenagers, you know, 11, 12,
13, 14. And we really don't want children to----
Mr. Weber. Right. No, I got you. Okay. Thank you. Madam
Chair, I yield back. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. Mr. Grayson of
Florida is recognized.
Mr. Grayson. Thanks, Assistant Secretary, Assistant
Administrator. I'm going to ask you what in some respects are
hard questions, but only in the hope that you will have really
good answers.
If you look at the polls you see that the Federal spending
that has the least support among the public is foreign aid. Why
is that?
Ms. Richard. My own sense is, having worked on this for a
long time, is that the term foreign aid is seen as a bad thing
because it's associating people's minds with all of the 60
Minutes programs that showed, you know, kleptocrats during the
Cold War, you know, carting off funds. And when we talk to the
public about what we're doing, humanitarian assistance for
schools, for vaccinations for children, for keeping people
safe, keeping children from being trafficked, feeding people,
shelter, there's tremendous support for doing that.
So, on the specifics of what we're involved in, I think
there is support. Of course, we rely on you and Congress to
tell us what you're hearing from your own constituents. Foreign
aid is only 1 percent of the Federal budget, and the money that
we're talking about today is a tiny fraction of that. And we
really appreciate the fact that we got sufficient funding this
year to do a lot of good and save a lot of lives in the Middle
East and around the world.
What is up in the air, as you know, is what happens in the
next few weeks with the next year, the Fiscal Year '14 budget.
So, again, we're depending on you and your colleagues to help
us.
Ms. Lindborg. I would just add that oftentimes when you
asked people if they support foreign assistance or not they say
no because they think it's about 20 percent of the budget. So,
if people understand that it's less than 1 percent of the
budget, their support levels go way, way up, which has been
demonstrated through a variety of polls over the last decade.
Mr. Grayson. All right. Assistant Secretary, Assistant
Administrator, if we did have an audience of millions here
which we don't, but if we did have an audience like that and
you had a chance to tell people what are the virtues and the
benefits of this kind of spending, what would you want to say?
What would you want people to understand?
Ms. Lindborg. You know, I think this is a fundamental value
that the American people hold very dear, which is that we
respond when people are in trouble, that we provide the kind of
fundamental life saving assistance that we would want to have
were we to be in a similar situation of despair and need. And
it is an extraordinary amount of generosity that we see in the
American people whenever there is this kind of life saving
need. Just as the human level, Americans are extraordinarily
focused on providing that kind of assistance.
I would also say that there's a security dimension to this,
that it's in our national security to provide the kind of
assistance in a crisis that has gone from being a Syrian
crisis, to a regional crisis, to an international crisis.
Mr. Grayson. Assistant Secretary?
Ms. Richard. You know, we see that when Americans are put
in touch with whether it's through a photograph or a really
compelling piece of journalism, or a Skype conversation, or put
in touch with the people who our aid is helping, they really
want to continue that because you can see the children that are
going to get an education who might not otherwise, or you see
the mother who is now widowed who has to feed her children
getting the food that she needs, and we're the top donor to the
World Food through AID, the food to feed them. So, people in
America are incredibly generous on situations like this, but
they don't always hear about it or get a chance to see that.
And I think this is where we have a responsibility to talk
about, but also we can use your help as allies in explaining
that.
I was thinking about Congressman Smith's passport. It's
probably got so many additional pages in it, it's probably
about this thick right now from his travels. And I think that
we don't always do a good job, we in the Executive Branch don't
always do a good job explaining in plain English the benefits
of our programs.
The other thing we have to mention is that we monitor and
evaluate where our aid goes, and how it's being used. And we
are very much under pressure not to allow a cent of it to go to
waste, fraud, or abuse, so that's why we have a lot of
safeguards, more than other countries do, to make sure our aid
is well spent. And when I travel, that's one of the things I'm
looking at.
You may have heard, I worked at the Office of Management
and Budget once upon a time, so I know how precious the
taxpayer money is. We make sure that none of it is wasted or
very little of it, as little as possible is wasted.
Mr. Grayson. Thanks. I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Grayson. Mr. Cotton is
recognized.
Mr. Cotton. Ms. Richard, Ms. Lindborg, thank you very much
for your time and your hard work for our country.
The Syrian refugee crisis is staggering in its scale. If I
read your testimony correctly, Ms. Richard, we're talking about
4 million to 5 million internally, over 2 million externally,
which is somewhere around a quarter to even a third of Syria's
population. Do you have any estimates, either of the witnesses,
on what a possible worst case scenario is?
Ms. Lindborg. You know, we keep surpassing our worst case
scenarios. A year ago the worst case scenario was far less than
what it is right now. We are looking at numbers that will
continue to escalate, and we stopped putting a worst case
scenario out there, but rather looking at trying to put into
place the kind of systems that can absorb continuing escalation
of need, including, for example, looking at how do you pull a
comprehensive platform together to bring a variety of
resources, World Bank, development resources to work alongside
our relief funding so that in the neighboring countries we can
address the growing impacts of stresses on basic infrastructure
by the refugees on water, and electricity, schools, clinics.
So, what we're turning to now is looking at all of the ways
where we can find the additional capacity in the international
system to respond to the growing crisis.
Mr. Cotton. Ms. Richard, I'm sorry, I'm going to reclaim my
time, but I would just ask if you agree with this estimate,
it's hard to have a worst case scenario at this moment?
Ms. Richard. I regretfully agree with that assessment.
Mr. Cotton. Okay.
Ms. Richard. And, also, we put a big emphasis with our
partners on contingency planning for the worst case scenario.
Mr. Cotton. Yes. Have you noticed either in your travels or
your analysis sectarian patterns to the refugee camps that are
outside of Syria, whether some are predominantly Sunni, Shiite,
Alawite, and so forth?
Ms. Richard. I mean, most of the refugees are Sunni.
Mr. Cotton. Yes.
Ms. Richard. So, the camps themselves are mostly Sunni, but
we're--as we were saying before, we're very sensitive to
keeping an eye out for the welfare of minority groups, and will
continue to do so. And, you know, if the situation changed
inside Syria, you could see the makeup of the refugees shift,
too.
Mr. Cotton. Yes.
Ms. Richard. And our desire is to help whoever needs help.
That's the humanitarian principle that we pursue. We give aid
based on need, and not based on membership in a particular
group.
Mr. Cotton. Yes. I do worry significantly about the
prospect of radicalization especially of young Sunnis within
these camps. In the recent debate over what course of action to
take in Syria, some argued that Bashar al Assad was actually a
bulwark against al-Qaeda on the ground in Syria, and I have to
strongly disagree based on my own personal experience in Iraq.
I was there in 2006 before the surge at the worst of the Sunni-
Shiite violence, and in my experience there's nothing that
drives Sunnis who are otherwise not a part of al-Qaeda, don't
support it, don't agree with what it does, into the hands of
al-Qaeda affiliated groups more than Shiite extremist violence
and western indifference to that violence.
We saw that in the neighborhoods I patrolled with my
soldiers in Iraq. Sunni Iraqis who are not predisposed toward
al-Qaeda but they went to them for protection from Mugtada al-
Sadr aligned militias from Shiite neighborhoods. And I worry
greatly that we're seeing that kind of radicalization of the
young Sunnis in these camps that could come back not just as a
humanitarian matter, but could come back to harm the United
States as those young fighters are radicalized and try to
strike back against the United States, or against the West.
What do you see along those lines in the camps?
Ms. Lindborg. Well, I would just add before Anne talks
about the camps, that one of the things we hear a lot from our
partners is that particularly in the opposition held areas, the
local communities have almost everywhere organized to try to
meet their own needs and recreate social fabric and government.
And one of the things that we're seeing is it is absolutely
important that there be a continuous connection and stream of
assistance that goes to those communities so they don't turn to
some of the other more extremist sources of assistance. So,
that's absolutely I think a piece of what will be important to
continue.
Ms. Richard. Yes, just to echo what Nancy said, and
specifically in the camps, our programs are trying to keep
children in a safe place and have them educated, and with
people who are interested in their best interests and nurtured
so that they are not attracted by extremist elements.
Mr. Cotton. Thank you both for your efforts. Eager to help
in any way I can, because I do believe that in the long term 8-
and 9-year-old Sunnis in these camps are being radicalized by
what they see happening in Syria, and Western indifference to
it is a grave national security threat to our country.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Cotton, I agree.
Mr. Schneider would be next, but he's going to jump over so
that Mr. Connolly can be recognized due to a previous
engagement.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you, Mr.
Schneider. I appreciate the courtesy, and welcome to both of
our panelists.
Would we assess the response of the donor community as
disappointing in terms of the provision of humanitarian
assistance for the swelling refugee population from the Syria
conflict?
Ms. Richard. I think the response of the donor community
has been the usual in that the same leading donors are leading
this time, and the funding raised for Syria is about the same--
this is what Valerie Amos has told us, for what was raised for
the whole world last few years. So, the problem is the usual is
not enough. This is such an extraordinary crisis, it's having
regional impact. It is a major displacement of populations that
needs much more than the usual. It needs people, governments,
countries stepping up and doing much more than the usual.
We are fortunate in that in Fiscal Year 2013 we were
provided sufficient funding from the Congress to lead in the
response to this, and we need to encourage other emerging
donors to step forward and to do more, and surpass the usual.
And the one example we've given is Kuwait, which in the past
was not a member of this major donor set, and has become one in
response to this crisis. And we want to see more countries do
that.
Mr. Connolly. Presumably, we're pressing the Saudis and
others to respond in kind.
Ms. Richard. Absolutely. We are pressing major governments
in the region, and also elsewhere around the world to do more.
Mr. Connolly. Do I have it correct that about 70 percent of
the refugees from the conflict are actually not in camps,
they're living in villages in the host countries?
Ms. Richard. 70 to 75 percent of refugees are not in camps.
All of the refugees in Lebanon are not living in camps. They
don't have camps. And in Jordan and Turkey, really the majority
of refugees are outside the camps. The reason you hear about
camps is because for a photojournalist, the easiest way to find
refugees and photograph them is to go to a camp, but when we
travel we also meet with refugees in homes in Amman, or in
Mafraq, or in Istanbul, so we are meeting with the refugees
where they are. And that for aid workers becomes a challenge,
is trying to get aid to them where they're living.
Mr. Connolly. That's right. And if I were the host country,
I might also while wanting to be welcoming, the numbers are so
substantial and the radicalization that was just--potential
radicalization that was just referenced might be of concern to
me in terms of stability for my own country, might it not?
Ms. Lindborg. It is, and that's one of the reasons that we
have increased our assistance to the host communities. There is
an incredible stress on the infrastructure of countries like
Jordan and Lebanon on their water, their electricity, schools,
and clinics, so we have in collaboration with those governments
pivoted our USAID assistance to put more focus on supporting
those communities that are hosting the refugees. And we've used
our contingency funds, like the Complex Crisis Fund, as well as
our education and our health programming to look at all the
ways to help communities who initially very generously welcomed
the refugees. And as the burden has become greater and greater,
the possibility of tension emerging has increased, so we're
very focused on providing the kind of support that Jordan and
Lebanon need to cope with this influx of refugees.
Mr. Connolly. And isn't there another concern which is that
the Syrian regime could see these refugee populations whether
in camps or not in camps as a hotbed of sedition and
opposition, and perhaps be tempted to engage in military action
against them? How concerned are we, Madam Assistant Secretary,
about that prospect? And have there, in fact, been incursions
by the Syrians to that effect?
Ms. Richard. Every time I travel in the region and meet
with government officials, they point out to me how close the
borders are to their population center, certainly in Southern
Turkey that's the case. Beirut, Lebanon is a short drive from
Damascus, in Northern Jordan I've been up to the border and
seen people come across from Southern Syria, so being there and
realizing how close the population centers are really drives
home this point of the security concerns that the neighbors
have.
What my sense is, is that the Syrian regime has focused its
voracity on the people inside Syria and that is why they are
fleeing to the camps. There have been, as you well know, you
know, some incursions across the border with Turkey, that
Turkey has responded to. That's not my portfolio, but it's
something that is brought up every time we travel and we meet
with government officials.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you for your
courtesy. And, Mr. Schneider, thank you especially for your
courtesy.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. And Mr. Schneider
continuing his mitzvot for the day, now yields to Ms. Meng of
New York.
Ms. Meng. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. Thank you, Mr.
Schneider.
This question could go to either witness. I'm trying to get
a sense of who the refugees are exactly, and what life is like
in these refugee camps. There was an article in the New Yorker
by David Remnick on Zaatari and the refugees, and an excerpt
says the refugees are border people. Many of them are traders,
smugglers accustomed to shuttling around Jordan, Syria, Turkey,
and Lebanon. He quickly discovered that the smugglers hardly
stop work when they go to the camp. The battle wings didn't get
UNHCR tents by accident. What is your impression of this
characterization?
Ms. Richard. I read the David Remnick article, I thought it
was fairly accurate in its overarching description of the
crisis, and specifically the Zaatari camp. You know, the
Zaatari camp sprung up in a very short time, a period of a few
short weeks, and has been growing ever since, so it wasn't a
planned community done in a calm situation. So there's been a
bit of catch up to enhance the security there, and to control
all the things flowing in and out of there. And right now it's
a much more secure place than it was months ago. But it is
absolutely true that people in Southern Syria normally traveled
across the border with Jordan. Many Syrians were living in
Jordan before the outbreak of violence. There are relatives of
people on both sides of the border.
In the early days before the camp was set up, I was
visiting transit camps that received refugees when they first
came across, and they could be bailed out by relatives or
friends, and many had relatives or friends, or even strangers,
you know, well spirited Jordanians who went to these transit
centers and said I'll take some people into my home. I'll help
these Syrian brothers. So, there is--in normal times there's a
great deal of back and forth across those borders. Right now,
the border patrol is very focused on who's coming across, and
we want innocent civilians who are fleeing violence to get
across, and they are also, of course, equipped to keep out bad
actors. And that's a very difficult thing to do. The border
patrol, from visiting them I know this, they have been equipped
because we have such good relations, military-to-military
relations from the U.S. and Jordan, they have topnotch ways of
observing the border, but it's a very dangerous place right
now, I think.
Ms. Lindborg. You know, I would just say I thought the
article was very well written and capturing the human
dimension, and there was one piece of it that I want to
underscore, and that is alongside the trauma that these
families experience, the women, the children, there's also a
dimension of helplessness and boredom that sets in for children
who aren't able to go to school. And this is true whether
you're in an internally displaced camp inside Syria, or
outside. And that's a part of what informs some of the programs
that we seek to do, is to provide an alternative to
helplessness and boredom which is a feature alongside a lot of
the trauma and the physical pain that these folks have
experienced.
Ms. Meng. Thank you. And just to continue a little bit on
what Mr. Grayson mentioned, and what you mentioned about the
American flag, how do the refugees view America, and what we're
trying to do to help them? And what can we do in Congress to
help you to do an even better job on marketing that goodwill?
Ms. Richard. In my conversations with refugees, part of the
message that they're giving us is thank you, but part of the
message is that they're really concerned about their relatives
inside Syria. More than anything else, that's the main message
that I get, is concern for inside Syria. And they talk less
about their own personal needs, and they talk about their
desire to see an end to the fighting inside.
So, you know, as an Assistant Secretary, when I travel now
I'm in a bit of a security cocoon, and I'm also meeting with
people. I can't wander around camps like I used to, so I'm
perhaps not the best person to ask but, you know, they are very
brave sometimes of pushing me as a representative of the United
States to do more, to do more, but mostly less for themselves
and more for their relatives they've left behind.
Ms. Lindborg. I thank you very much for that question. And
in terms of how you can help, I mean, first of all, I would
echo the thanks that both of us have already said, the support
that Congress is providing that enables these programs to go
forward is absolutely essential. It's lifesaving. It's having
an enormous and profound impact. Thank you for this hearing. It
gives us yet another opportunity to highlight the fact that the
American people are standing by the Syrian people. And we would
welcome all the ways in which all of you can be a part of
amplifying that message. That's something that we spend a lot
of time doing when we travel to the region, is just letting the
Syrian people know that they are not forgotten. And I wanted to
say that to Mr. Cotton. We have--we spend a great deal of time
and energy making sure the Syrian people know they are not
forgotten. We are there, and we are providing lifesaving
humanitarian assistance every day throughout the region, and
inside.
Ms. Meng. Thank you. I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much. Now, we saved the
best for last here. Mr. Schneider, thank you so much. He will
be our wrap up, and our closer. Thank you.
Mr. Schneider. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thanks to
both of you for spending the time here, sharing with us your
perspectives and experience. This has been an incredibly
informative hearing. The questions, but in particular the
answers to the questions have been crucial, so thank you.
I'm going to go to where you started. You said this is
vastly different than it was 1 year ago, and that our worst
case scenarios 1 year ago have long since been exceeded. And we
sit with a question here and so many more questions I know that
follow behind it. The most important thing I'll emphasize is
that the Syrian people need to know that we do care. This is, I
think, our fourth hearing on Syria, at least. We will, I'm
sure, have more, and that doesn't count how many meetings and
conversations we continue to have. It is something that has our
attention because it is important to the region, to the world,
and to the United States.
Assistant Secretary, you talked about the long term, that
this is going to be an issue for a long time, that camps,
there's a generation being created in these camps as refugees.
Even though we can't describe what the worst case scenario is,
I wonder if you could possibly describe long term what's the
best case scenario, 5, 10, 15 years from now?
Ms. Richard. What we need is for Syrians to be able to go
home and to restart their lives. Their houses have been
destroyed, some of them their jobs have been destroyed. If they
worked in a pharmaceutical factory, they've all been leveled.
And if they had a workplace, their colleagues have been sent
all over the region, so we need them to put their lives back
together again, restore the pipes that transport clean water to
their homes. But I'm particularly worried about children.
Children going uneducated means that you have a whole
generation then who ought to be the future leaders of Syria,
who will not be equipped to do that.
You know, I also worry about college age youth because they
ought to be in school learning things so that they can be the
future engineers, they can be the future problem solvers, and
they're not. They're stuck in camps, or they're out trying to
work in low wage jobs, perhaps in places where they're not well
appreciated to let their families survive. This is a tragic
poor use of human capital. We should be--this is the future of
Syria, and they are not where they should be, and we're very
concerned about it.
Ms. Lindborg. Just a quick footnote to that. There's a
recent U.N. assessment that shows that Syria in 2 years has
lost 35 years of development gains, so even if the conflict
ended tomorrow, conservatively, optimistically we're looking at
about a decade to rebuild some of the essential infrastructure,
Mr. Schneider. Right. And to take off on the 25 years,
that's 35 years of infrastructure, that's 35 years of building
communities, preparing them for a 21st century that has been
knocked back, and that's going to take that time to go forward.
Obviously, one of the concerns I have that I think many of
us share on the committee, we need to be there for the long
term. We have to be engaged, the region has to be engaged.
Syria is too critical of a state in a region with so many
issues all around it. What do we have to do to make sure that
we don't lose the focus that you have brought to this issue now
for a couple of years?
Ms. Richard. This is a perennial problem for Americans in
responding to major crises overseas, is that when the crisis
leaves the headlines does our interest dry up, and does our
support dry up? So, this is why in addition to caring about
Syria, both of us care about things happening in the rest of
the world, as well. We care about Afghan refugees still living
in Pakistan. We care about the Horn of Africa, so we're trying
to make sure that other crises are not forgotten or other
longer term protracted situations are not forgotten, at the
same time we focus a lot of our attention on Syria.
And this is where I think the Congress can be helpful, is
to raise the profile of this crisis, but at the same time
understand in authorizing and appropriating programs that we
are looking at situations that we're trying to resolve that
happened many years ago. It also means that the U.S. not do it
alone, that we do it with other donor governments, that we work
together in coalitions, that we continue to build this
international group of donors. And that's partly why in looking
at the so called emerging donors, we want to bring more
countries along on the Syria crisis, but then have them stay
with us and care about whatever tomorrow may bring, as well,
and work with us on a global scale.
Mr. Schneider. Well, thank you. I'm out of time. If I can
close with one thought. You said, Assistant Secretary, that the
usual is not enough, and I think nothing could be more true.
That's one of the most important things I'll take from this
hearing. But I want to thank the two of you because not usual,
but extraordinary efforts are undertaken with your leadership.
So, thank you very much, and thank you, Madam Chairman.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Excellent closing remarks.
And, of course, all of these issues have an impact on our U.S.
national security interest, on the stability of our allies,
like Jordan and Israel throughout the region, so thank you very
much for the important work that you do day in and day out.
And with that, the subcommittee is adjourned. Thank you,
ladies.
Ms. Lindborg. Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 12:19 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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