[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE SYRIAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS
FROM THE GROUND (PART I)
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
OCTOBER 8, 2015
__________
Serial No. 114-114
__________
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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 BRAD SHERMAN, California
DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California
DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California
PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
RON DeSANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin
DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
TOM EMMER, MinnesotaUntil 5/18/
15 deg.
DANIEL DONOVAN, New YorkAs
of 5/19/15 deg.
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
DARRELL E. ISSA, California BRIAN HIGGINS, New York
RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
RON DeSANTIS, Florida ALAN GRAYSON, Florida
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina GRACE MENG, New York
TED S. YOHO, Florida LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania
DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan
LEE M. ZELDIN, New York
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
WITNESSES
Ms. Bernice Romero, senior director, Humanitarian Public Policy
and Advocacy, Save the Children................................ 8
Mr. Mark C. Smith, senior director, Humanitarian and Emergency
Affairs, World Vision.......................................... 17
Mr. David Ray, vice president for advocacy, Cooperative for
Assistance and Relief Everywhere............................... 26
Mr. Michael Bowers, vice president, Humanitarian Leadership and
Response, Mercy Corps.......................................... 36
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
Ms. Bernice Romero: Prepared statement........................... 11
Mr. Mark C. Smith: Prepared statement............................ 19
Mr. David Ray: Prepared statement................................ 28
Mr. Michael Bowers: Prepared statement........................... 39
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 58
Hearing minutes.................................................. 59
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress
from the State of Florida, and chairman, Subcommittee on the
Middle East and North Africa:
Statement submitted by Syrian NGO Alliance..................... 60
Statement submitted by Human Rights First...................... 63
EXAMINING THE SYRIAN HUMANITARIAN CRISIS FROM THE GROUND (PART I)
----------
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2015
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. I am
sure that some members will come, it is just that we have to
end before noon because we have an important, on the GOP side
an important event. So we will make sure that we end on time.
Look at that. I just bang the gavel and things happen.
So the subcommittee is in order, and after recognizing
myself and my good friend the ranking member Ted Deutch of
Florida for 5 minutes each for our opening statements, I will
then recognize any other members seeking recognition for 1
minute. We will then hear from our witnesses--thank you, ladies
and gentlemen--and without objection, your prepared statements
will be made a part of the record. Members may have 5 days in
which to insert statements and questions for the record,
subject to the length and limitations in the rules.
The chair now recognizes herself for 5 minutes. Since the
beginning of last Congress, this is the sixth time that our
subcommittee has convened to look specifically at the
humanitarian crisis in Syria. I am grateful that we are
welcoming back some of those organizations that testified
before us last year and welcoming one new one, and we thank all
of you for your work under these very difficult circumstances.
While the news about Syria today is dominated by
geopolitics or the U.S. domestic political ramifications of the
latest Russian air strikes against anti-Assad rebels, or the
strain faced by EU countries because of the hundreds of
thousands of mostly Syrian refugees flowing across their
borders, I think it is important to remember that the Syrian
crisis did not come about just a few days ago. We now have at
the very least 25 million people who are going through
unimaginable pain and suffering in their lives, lives that have
been absolutely turned upside down in the past few years.
For years this subcommittee has been advocating for a
comprehensive strategy toward the Syrian humanitarian crisis.
Even though recent news headlines focus on the amount of
refugees that are heading to Europe, we cannot forget about the
millions of refugees who remain in the Middle East. Internally,
7.6 million Syrians have been displaced. What a number. At
least 4.1 million have fled abroad to Syria's neighbors,
especially Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has called the
combined situations in Syria and Iraq a mega-crisis, one in
which over 25 million people have been affected by the violence
and brutality of Bashar al-Assad and ISIL. At least 16 million
Syrians including refugees registered abroad are in need of
humanitarian assistance, and combined with the over 300,000
people already dead it is fair to say that in Syria we may be
witnessing one of the largest humanitarian disasters of our
modern times.
The best and only surefire way to end the internal
suffering and its external consequences, like the refugee
crisis, is to put an end to the conflict in Syria and remove
Assad from power. In the meantime, the United States will
continue to try to improve the ability of those on the ground
to deliver aid through both security and diplomatic solutions,
and build the capacity of our partners in those suffering
communities to respond on their own.
The United States has already met the humanitarian crisis
with a tremendous response, donating over $4.5 billion in aid
since the conflict in Syria began seriously 4 years ago.
However, there are many questions that need to be answered
about the efficacy and the continuity of our aid and the
monitoring capacities and the capabilities of our implementing
partners, the lack of assistance being provided by others in
the region and elsewhere.
I remain concerned that despite the large amounts of aid
and resources being donated, very little of our assistance is
reaching those desperately in need. In our February hearing on
the humanitarian crisis, the administration testified that at
that time 72 percent of our $3 billion in aid was going through
the U.N. We must ensure that there are sufficient monitoring
capabilities in place to prevent fraud or corruption and to
ensure that aid is not being diverted or falling into the hands
of ISIL, the Assad regime or other terrorist groups.
I am also concerned about the ability of NGOs to access
those in need when faced with a dangerous situation on the
ground in Syria. Humanitarian workers must be allowed to reach
those who are suffering without fear of retaliation. We must
also not accept the arguments of some who contend that Russian
and Iranian involvement will be beneficial to the humanitarian
response. Nothing good will come out of Russian and Iranian
involvement in Syria.
This will be the first time in over a year that the
subcommittee has heard from NGOs and our implementing partners
operating on the ground in Syria, and I am grateful that they
have come here today to share their perspectives and to provide
suggestions on how we can better respond to this, sadly, ever-
growing humanitarian tragedy.
And I am very pleased to turn to my ranking member, Ted
Deutch.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen. This is now
the sixth hearing that the subcommittee has held focused
specifically on the humanitarian aspect of the Syrian crisis.
In addition, we have held numerous hearings on U.S. policy
toward Syria, but here we are 4\1/2\ years after the start of
the Syrian conflict having the same conversation. The
humanitarian crisis facing Syria is enormous and the entire
international community must do more.
On September 21, the United States announced an additional
commitment for this year of $419 million in humanitarian aid,
bringing the U.S. aid for 2015 to $1.6 billion for a total of
$4\1/2\ billion since the crisis began. The 2015 U.N. appeal
for this humanitarian crisis stands at $8.4 billion. Even with
the additional U.S. pledge, the appeal remains only 38 percent
funded, and the failure of other countries to satisfy their
pledges is unacceptable.
It is unacceptable that aid pledges continue to fall well
short of the U.N. appeal. It is unacceptable that food aid is
repeatedly temporarily suspended or reduced until new funding
comes in. It is unacceptable that there aren't enough funds to
ensure refugees and internally displaced persons have the most
basic needs to survive winter.
At each one of these hearings I repeat the numbers of those
affected by this crisis because they are truly staggering. We
must remember that these are not just statistics. They are
children desperate to go back to school, young adults looking
for opportunity, mothers and fathers trying to find safety for
their families. There are over 12 million people in need of aid
in Syria. There are 7.6 million internally displaced people, 50
percent of them are children. Fifty percent. This year alone,
1.2 million people have been displaced.
Syria's neighbors are suffering under the tremendous strain
of over 4 million refugees. Jordan now has 639,000 registered
refugees. Over a quarter of Lebanon's population are refugees.
That is 1.1 million people. There are nearly 2 million refugees
in Turkey and Iraq. Now dealing with 3.2 million of its own
people internally displaced by ISIS violence, it is also
shouldering \1/4\ million Syrian refugees.
And now we are seeing hundreds of thousands making the
perilous trip to Europe in search of security and opportunity.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has estimated that
322,000 people have fled to Europe. The U.N. issued a funding
appeal to aid refugees arriving in Europe, and while the
refugee crisis in Europe demands international attention we
cannot allow it to take the international community's focus
away from the crisis that is happening on the ground in Syria.
Today's hearing is not the venue for debate over U.S.
policy toward Syria, but let me just say that until we address
the root of this conflict, which is the continued brutality of
the murderous Assad regime and the horrific ISIS, the
humanitarian crisis will continue. It is because Assad chose to
attack his own people that space was created for extremist
groups to rise. Now this region has been fundamentally altered
for decades to come. The future of an entire generation of
Syrian children could be lost in this conflict.
We know that billions of dollars have been flowing to bad
actors on both sides of this conflict. Wealthy individuals from
Gulf countries funded extremist groups like al-Nusra from the
earliest stages. Media reports have estimated that Iran has
given Assad $9 billion in financial support, while Assad regime
officials publicly stated that they have received $15 billion.
Russia continues to provide billion-dollar arm sales and other
materiel and financial support to Assad, yet it has contributed
only $6 million this year for the humanitarian appeal.
Billions of dollars have gone to perpetuate this conflict.
The U.N. cannot even sustain funding for the most basic
programs like providing food vouchers. This is unacceptable.
Funding is unfortunately just one of the challenges. Protection
for civilian aid workers must be a priority. Indiscriminate
weapons like barrel bombs and chemical weapons are not designed
to target a strategic position, they are designed to kill as
many people as possible.
And while the vast majority of attacks on civilians come
from the Syrian army, ISIS violence, coalition strikes and
Russian strikes have all caused civilian casualties. Russia's
decision to launch air strikes in Syria reminds the
international community this conflict is far from over. In
fact, on October 2, the U.N. Special Envoy for Syria stated
that the U.N. would have to suspend certain humanitarian
interventions due to a surge in violence. U.N. Security Council
resolutions on the use of indiscriminate weapons must be
enforced.
The war in Syria is difficult, it is ugly, and this focus
of this hearing on this humanitarian crisis must continue even
as we debate the violence. And it is also time that we have a
serious discussion on the feasibility of operating safe zones
to protect innocent civilians. In addition, we can't turn our
back on host communities. This means continued and increased
funding for schools, infrastructure support, water and
sanitation projects, health care programs, and providing
refugees with the ability to work and contribute in these
communities.
We are fortunate today to be joined by four organizations
that have been on the ground working in and around Syria
witnessing firsthand the difficulties of addressing this
particular humanitarian challenge. Our brave aid workers,
particularly those Syrians still working inside Syria, our
extreme gratitude for risking their lives every single day to
make the otherwise unbearable lives of others a little bit
better.
And finally, Madam Chairman, in reading through today's
testimony I was struck by the personal stories that each of you
told of individuals deeply affected by this crisis. We must
continue to put a face on this tragedy to remind the world that
the cost of continued inaction is simply too great.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Deutch, very eloquent.
Thank you. Mr. Rohrabacher.
Mr. Rohrabacher. We Americans come from every place in the
world. We are every ethnic group, every race, every religion,
and we have a very special role to play when there are crises
like this. And I am anxious to work with all of my colleagues
on both sides of the aisle to make sure that we thwart this
horrible genocide that is going on now in that part of the
world, but also to reach out to these poor people who are
suffering and try to get through this crisis together.
Thank you for your leadership, Madam Chairman, and I
appreciate my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and
their good faith in this as well.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr. Connolly.
Mr. Connolly. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And welcome to our
panel and thank you for the brave work your organizations are
doing every day. We are facing a humanitarian crisis of
unprecedented proportion. I know we say that every time there
is a humanitarian crisis, but the virtual dismemberment of a
state, and a big one at that--Syria--is pretty much
unprecedented. And the numbers are staggering--1.7 million
refugees in Lebanon, a country of only 4.5 million. And in
Jordan Syrian refugees now equal 10 percent of its population.
Turkey, with almost 2 million Syrian refugees and not getting
quite as much credit, frankly, as it deserves for that effort.
We need to step up. We need our allies to step up. We need
the Gulf state oil-rich nations to step up to this tragedy
while we try as an international community to find a long term
solution so that we stop generating refugees. I look forward to
the hearing. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Connolly. Mr. Trott.
Mr. Trott. I would like to thank Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen
and Ranking Member Deutch for holding this important and
especially timely hearing. Earlier this morning ISIS released a
video of the beheading of three Assyrians from a village they
captured in February of this year, and ISIS is now threatening
to behead three more people.
The humanitarian crisis in Syria is getting worse by the
day, and the repeated delays by the administration whether it
be taking 9 months to name an Ambassador for International
Religious Freedom or over 1 year to appoint a special envoy for
religious minorities in the Middle East has only exacerbated
the dire situation in Syria and the greater Middle East.
The frequency of attacks on Christians and other religious
minorities is extremely disturbing. The attacks are not on just
innocent helpless citizens but an attack on Christianity and
other minority groups as a whole. Christians are under a
distinctive threat in the Middle East especially in war-torn
countries like Syria and Iraq where they have faced decades of
persecution, some of it state sponsored, rendering them
powerless and helpless. The administration needs to take the
lead and show the rest of the world that we stand with the
world's most vulnerable. I yield back my time.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Trott. Mr. Cicilline.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to you
and Ranking Member Deutch for calling this very important
hearing. Welcome to our witnesses. Thank you for being here,
and more importantly, thank you for the important work that you
are doing.
The situation in Syria and the surrounding areas has become
a tragedy of epic proportions, and I fear it will be a source
of shame on our generation that we have not done more to
prevent the human suffering which is at a scale that we haven't
seen in decades. Responsibility certainly does not fall
entirely on the United States. It is the responsibility of the
entire international community to respond to the humanitarian
crisis that is unfolding today.
And it is appalling to me that funding needs continue to be
unmet; that the United States and Europe are not doing more to
accept desperate refugees who have lost everything they have in
the world and that entire families are dying in their attempts
to escape their bleak reality and the horrifying consequences
of war. Of course the ultimate responsibility falls upon the
Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad whose unspeakable cruelty
toward his own people including the use of chemical weapons is
at the heart of this civil war.
This is not a problem that has an easy solution, but I hope
today we can shed some light on what more the United States
Government can do to ease the suffering of the Assyrian people
and attempt to bring an end to this horrific conflict. I thank
the witnesses again for being here, and thank you, Madam Chair.
I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Cicilline. Mr. Chabot.
Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Madam Chairman for holding this, I
think, very important hearing. Since the start of the Syrian
civil war, hundreds of thousands of people have fled taking
refuge in neighboring countries. And while the international
community has launched a massive response to the crisis, there
is significant shortcomings and the political landscape is
obviously extremely complicated.
We continue to deal with the brutal Assad regime and an
unstable Iraq plagued by ISIS and what seems to be a
disappearing border between Syria and Iraq. These tragic
realities have caused an overwhelming migration of refugees
fleeing to Europe and elsewhere. But I think we would be remiss
if we didn't acknowledge that the administration's policies in
the Middle East and particularly with respect to Syria have
been in a shambles. So many mistakes have been made from
drawing red lines and not following up on them to considering
ISIS to be the JV team. One mistake after another and a lot of
people are suffering as a result of those mistakes. I yield
back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, sir. Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to just
thank the folks here, the panel, for all the work you are
doing. I know I speak for so many Americans and people around
the world to say that when we see what is going on in Syria it
is heartbreaking. And it is also very complicated.
I am not going to sit here--I respectfully differ a little
bit with some of my colleagues' statements about--I don't think
we should be putting the blame on Barack Obama, but what I do
want to say is I think what is going on requires an
international focus. This is a humanitarian and a security
problem now that is facing the world, and I look forward to
hearing what you all have to say today.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Clawson.
Mr. Clawson. Thank you all for coming and full appreciation
for what your organizations do in unimaginable circumstances.
That is the first thing I wanted to say. Number two is I am
against U.S. involvement in Syria under the current strategy,
voted against arming folks there with taxpayer money, and
offered an amendment to stop it because I think the United
States is making the situation in Syria worse as opposed to
better, which makes your job harder.
And the third point I have to make today is that the
wealthy friends and neighbors in the neighborhood are not doing
nearly enough, not just militarily but more importantly, today,
to help folks like you get aid to people that are suffering for
no acts of their own but rather the conflicts that are
occurring.
So those are three points I wanted to make today, and the
first one of appreciation, of course, is the most important.
Thank you for what you all do. I yield back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Clawson. Mr. Higgins.
Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Madam Chair, and just thank you
very much to the panel. Save the Children, World Vision,
Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, and Mercy
Corps just doing extraordinary work on behalf of a
compassionate nation, and these groups are so desperately
needed today. You have a civil war that has killed over 220,000
people, created 4 million refugees, 7 million internally
displaced, 12 million inside Syria need humanitarian
assistance. This is extraordinary and extraordinarily difficult
to try to distill down to a policy that we can help enact that
will help relieve this problem. So I look forward to hearing
from the panel, and again we thank you for the extraordinary
work that you do and the extraordinary work that you will
continue to do on behalf of the entire world community. I yield
back.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. And Ms. Meng.
Ms. Meng. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member, for
calling this hearing to examine the Syrian humanitarian crisis
composed of refugees and displaced families in the surrounding
areas. I too especially want to thank the eight organizations
who are represented here today for your challenging work on the
ground. It is through your capability and willingness to put
yourself in harm's way to help people that this assistance is
able to be delivered at all.
With the exacerbating conflict and regional actors
disagreeing on the best policies to address the root causes, we
must focus on addressing humanitarian needs at this moment,
specifically what best practices are and where there are gaps
to accessing and delivering aid and where NGOs and governments
can collaborate to effectively mitigate the effects of the
crisis. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from your
expertise.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Ms. Meng. Now I am
pleased to introduce our panelists. First we are pleased to
welcome back Ms. Bernice Romero who is the senior director of
International Humanitarian Response, Public Policy and Advocacy
at Save the Children USA. Previously, Bernice has been a
director for Oxfam International and an aide to former
President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica.
Secondly, we welcome Mr. Mark Smith of World Vision, where
he serves as senior director of Humanitarian and Emergency
Operations. He has served as a senior strategist for the
development department of the American Red Cross and disaster
response director for World Relief.
Third, we welcome Mr. David Ray who is the vice president
for advocacy at CARE USA and a managing director at CARE Action
Now. He has had 19 years of experience with CARE, serving as a
senior assistant to the president for CARE International and
vice president of the Care Foundation. Welcome, sir.
And last but certainly not least, we welcome Mr. Michael
Bowers of Mercy Corps where he serves as the vice president for
Humanitarian Leadership and Response. Previously he has served
as Mercy Corps country director in Afghanistan, Albania,
Croatia and Kyrgyzstan. He has also performed work in West
Africa as part of the National Democratic Institute.
Thank you all for being here. Your statements, as I said,
will be made a part of the record. Please feel free to
summarize your remarks. We will begin with Ms. Romero. Thank
you.
STATEMENT OF MS. BERNICE ROMERO, SENIOR DIRECTOR, HUMANITARIAN
PUBLIC POLICY AND ADVOCACY, SAVE THE CHILDREN
Ms. Romero. First of all, I want to thank Chairman Ros-
Lehtinen and Ranking Member Deutch for this hearing, and the
time and attention that you continue to dedicate to this
crisis. It is much appreciated.
A single picture of a lifeless child focused the world's
attention on a crisis that has reached not just Europe but all
of Syria and its neighboring countries. Now in its fifth year
and with no political solution in sight, the Syrian conflict
has been characterized as the largest humanitarian crisis in
the world.
Save the Children programs are serving millions of people
across the Middle East, reaching over 2 million children since
the conflict began. My remarks today, a summary submitted for
the record, draw on this experience to focus on four issues.
One, the importance----
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Just to interrupt you.
Ms. Romero. Yes.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. I noticed that we have some great slides
here. I don't want this to count against your time, but do you
want these slides to be seen by the audience also? I don't know
what----
Ms. Romero. That would be great, yes.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. It would be great if we could get one of
them in one of the screens. There we go, okay.
Ms. Romero. All right, great. Thank you.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. We will start again.
Ms. Romero. Okay.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Start that clock again. Thank you.
Ms. Romero. Okay. I am going to draw on this experience in
Syria to focus on four issues. One, the importance of
increasing the annual ceiling for refugee admissions; two, the
protection challenges Syrian children face including attacks on
schools; three, the importance of humanitarian and development
funding; and four, the need to take action now to find a
political solution.
The Syrian conflict has taken a heavy toll on children,
many who have fled bombs, bullets and torture only to drown in
European waters. More than 4 million refugees, over half of
whom are children, have fled the violence in Syria. Given the
scale of this crisis, the U.S. must be better than business as
usual. The recent announcement to increase the refugee
admissions cap is a welcome step, but more is needed. Save the
Children is calling on the U.S. to resettle 100,000 Syrian
refugees and raise the overall cap to 200,000 in the next
fiscal year.
We know that unless we address why people are taking such
desperate measures, however, people will continue to flee. One
factor is the growing insecurity inside Syria including
increased attacks on education. Over the last 2 years, Save the
Children has recorded 51 incidents of attacks on and military
use of schools supported by our programs in Syria. These
included 32 air strikes, arson, forced entry, shootings and
threats. The actual number of cases is likely much higher.
One example occurred in April when a barrel bomb damaged a
primary school in Aleppo, forcing 700 children to be evacuated.
Last year, three schools we support in Idlib were so severely
damaged that they had to be rebuilt. You can see a picture of
one of these schools here. This school was attacked and bombed
three times until it was finally deemed unsafe and could no
longer be used.
In another incident, one student suffered severe injuries
and lost his hand. Two missiles fell on the school, one killing
five children and injuring 50 more. More than 1,000 schools
inside Syria have been used as temporary bases, military
staging grounds, or detention and torture centers. At a time
when there are already limited opportunities to access
education in Syria, such damage further hampers students'
prospects.
Despite the challenges, with the appropriate investments it
is still possible to deliver education in Syria. Targeted
funding can allow education to continue. However, it must be
accompanied by increased pressure on parties to the conflict to
cease attacks on education.
We call on the U.S. Government to pressure parties to the
conflict to fully implement the U.N. Resolutions 2139, 2165 and
2191; support the establishment of a U.N. protection monitoring
body; prioritize and fully fund education including alternative
schooling options.
At the same time as insecurity is rising inside Syria, the
situation in host communities is deteriorating. Host countries
continue to show extraordinary generosity but are at a breaking
point. Many borders are effectively closed and refugees now
find it harder than ever to renew residency visas or
registration. Limited legal status leads to reduced access to
basic services, assistance and livelihoods. Unable to access
legal income, many turn to work in the informal economy often
risking abuse and contributing to social tensions.
Education is also at risk. More than 700,000 refugee
children are out of school because national education systems
just can't cope with the numbers. Legal restrictions, decreased
assistance, all of these heighten child protection risks.
Families are increasingly forced to rely on negative coping
mechanisms such as child labor or early marriage.
For both children's protection and host country stability,
we urge the U.S. Government to work with host countries and
develop an agenda that combines humanitarian and development
support, and we also ask the U.S. Government to champion the No
Lost Generation Initiative, a campaign to channel support for
children's education and protection. The U.S. has been a
generous donor, but in the face of ever-increasing needs this
leadership must continue, including support for quality
education and employment. We ask Congress to pass a Fiscal Year
2016 emergency supplemental for humanitarian assistance and
increased refugee admissions.
But ultimately, ending the conflict is the only way to
build a better future. The U.S. should prioritize a
reinvigorated peace process. We laud you as to leadership, but
the scale of the crisis demands more urgent and escalated
action. We look forward to working with you to help Syria's
next generation.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Romero follows:]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much for what you do.
Mr. Smith.
STATEMENT OF MR. MARK C. SMITH, SENIOR DIRECTOR, HUMANITARIAN
AND EMERGENCY AFFAIRS, WORLD VISION
Mr. Smith. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Member Deutch,
the face of the Syrian crisis has become Aylan Kurdi, the 3-
year-old boy who washed up on the shore of Turkey. It was an
image that shocked all of us. The face of the Syria crisis is
also Ali, a 14-year-old Syrian boy now living in Lebanon. Ali
fled the war in Syria with his mother and his two brothers; he
has now dropped out of World Vision's education program in
Lebanon. Ali is now working three jobs, at a library, an
exchange office, and charcoal shop to help support his family.
He told our staff, I may die tomorrow or the day after. I can't
dream of a future.
Madam Chair, these children don't expect to live long.
Since World Vision focuses on specialized programming for
children, today I will highlight the particular needs and
vulnerabilities of children affected by the conflict. Across
the region over 2 million Syrian children have crossed borders
and now live as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and
Iraq.
And the life as a refugee is very difficult for a child.
Fathers and mothers are daily making decisions about whether or
not to put their families in a dinghy to cross the
Mediterranean; whether or not to have their children leave
school in order to work; whether or not they should agree to
early marriages for their daughters because it is less mouths
to feed.
Quite alarmingly, the specific needs of Syrian children are
largely not being addressed within the humanitarian response.
In World Vision's office in Jordan, pictures drawn by Syrian
refugee children line our hallways. Their colored pictures are
heartbreaking, portraying destruction of homes, bloodshed and
violence. One showed a child in the corner of the picture
silently witnessing the horror.
These children need mental health care and psychosocial
support in order to process their traumatic experiences. Not
addressing emotional impact and stress children have
experienced could lead to a generation of children experiencing
long term mental, social and economic problems. Further, the
crisis has had a devastating impact on the education of
millions of children.
Before the onset of the conflict in 2011, nearly every
child in Syria was enrolled in school and literacy rates
exceeded 90 percent. Today, inside Syria 2.7 million children
are no longer in school, outside of Syria over 50 percent of
school-age refugee children are out of school. Rather than
gaining an education, the crisis continues to push large
numbers of Syrian children into the labor market. Refugee
children working to support their families are even more
vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
In light of this, it pains me to see the varying degrees of
negative sentiment against Syrian refugees. Our response toward
Syrian families forced out of the country by conflict will
define what we stand for as a nation. We can act out of fear
toward Syrians who flee the war or we can show compassion to
those who seek refuge. I believe we are a country that
continually shows compassion.
World Vision has been greatly encouraged by the response to
our refugee initiative, a long term campaign to engage the
Christian Church and the American public inspiring people to
take action in these places of brokenness and human suffering.
In the last 4 weeks we have raised nearly $3 million from over
11,200 donors across the country. In addition, Nielsen recently
conducted a recent poll on behalf of World Vision surveying
2,000 U.S. adults. Eighty-three percent believe the U.S. should
in some way assist persons affected by the conflict in Syria.
Further, when engaging with our supporters, World Vision
receives extremely high responses from our Syria advocacy calls
to action. They want to see leadership from President Obama and
Congress on the conflict in Syria. President Obama and Congress
now face a unique moment where their moral leadership will be
tested.
The urgency of the Syrian humanitarian crisis threatens the
stability of the region. It is ground zero for a global proxy
war where the primary casualties are innocent children in and
around Syria. Our policy recommendations include civilian
protection. We need a Syrian policy that at its core has
civilian protection.
A political solution--the costs of U.N. inaction around
civilian protection in Syria are now becoming clear. The U.S.
must politically and diplomatically prioritize an urgent and
structured process toward a peaceful solution. Third, education
in psychosocial support. Unfortunately, children's programs for
child protection education and psychosocial support remain some
of the most underfunded areas of the response. We need to
prioritize these programs for children.
Third, livelihoods. Invest in key economic sectors in host
countries and incentivize livelihood programming to increase
employment opportunities. And finally, humanitarian response
fund raising.
In conclusion, the war haunts an entire generation of
Syria's children. Every single child in Syria today under the
age of eight only knows life impacted by war. This crisis is
shaping an entire generation of children. The threat of aerial
attacks on schools and homes shapes them. The loss of their
fathers, mothers, siblings, cousins and friends shapes them.
The threat of displacement from home shapes them. The reality
of not having enough food shapes them. The reality of not
having warm clothing and blankets during winter shapes them.
I would like to thank the committee for inviting World
Vision to testify and for your work on this Syrian humanitarian
crisis.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you for everything that you do, Mr.
Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Ray.
STATEMENT OF MR. DAVID RAY, VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADVOCACY,
COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE
Mr. Ray. Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Ranking Member Deutch,
members of the committee, thank you for your continued
engagement on this issue. As noted, I am here representing CARE
USA, a 70-year-old global poverty fighting organization working
in more than 80 countries around the world including more than
six decades in the Middle East.
To begin, let me tell you about a woman I will call
Nasreet. Nasreet and her family spent a year fleeing from one
place to another inside Syria before finding refuge in a town
across the border in Jordan. When explaining the reason for
fleeing her homeland, she raised her 6-year-old son's shirt
exposing a jagged scar from the shrapnel that had torn through
his body and destroyed their home.
What choice did I have but to leave, she said. Now her
oldest sons, ages 9 and 13, who had never missed a day of
school in Syria, are forced to forego the education they so
desperately desire in order to work full time to provide enough
money for their family to survive.
Sadly, her story is typical of the millions who are
displaced by this conflict. CARE has been responding to the
Syrian crisis since June 2012. With the help of the U.S.
Government, private donors and other bilateral and multilateral
agencies, we have helped nearly 1.3 million Syrian refugees and
IDPs in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Syria. Our programs
provide food, hygiene items, psychological and social support,
and vouchers and/or debit cards that help refugees cover basic
living costs such as food and rent.
We are also working to meet the unique needs of women and
girls. Sixty percent of all preventable maternal deaths occur
in conflict, displacement, and natural disaster settings like
those currently faced by millions of Syrians. The provision of
adequate maternal and child health services in these
circumstances is critical. But none of these efforts are enough
to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Syrian people.
Based on our experience I would like to offer five
recommendations. One, urgently increase assistance to Syrian
refugees and those displaced inside the country. Two, increase
protection of civilians inside Syria and in the region. Three,
immediately expand resettlement of vulnerable Syrians to the
United States. Four, ensure that women have access to jobs and
income generating opportunities. And five, dramatically
increase U.S. Government diplomatic efforts to end the war.
CARE's recommendations are detailed in our written
testimony, so in the interest of time I will focus on just
three of them. First, we must increase humanitarian assistance.
The United States has been the single most generous donor to
date, providing $4.5 billion to the humanitarian response. That
is in large part due to congressional support for this and
other humanitarian crises, and we thank you.
And yet, the U.N.'s 2015 appeal is only 41 percent funded,
and the Governments of Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon are
struggling to respond to this protracted crisis. In addition,
the World Food Program assistance to extremely vulnerable
refugees has been cut in half. America can and must do more to
address these desperate needs. The $1 billion emergency
supplemental introduced by Senators Graham and Leahy on Tuesday
is a very welcome development, and we hope that the House will
follow suit.
Second, we must increase protection of civilians both
inside Syria and in the region. One of the main drivers of
refugee flows has been the indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
Unless U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for an end to
such attacks, including barrel bombing, are backed up with real
and serious consequences, the parties will continue to ignore
them.
We also must remember that women and girls face particular
protection challenges in any crisis and Syria is no different.
Inside Syria the war has increased the levels of domestic
violence faced by women as well as early marriage among girls.
According to a report released by CARE earlier this year, child
marriages among Syrians in Jordan have increased dramatically
to as high as 25 percent. The United States must ensure that
the protection and health needs of women and girls are included
in all of its assistance provided in the region.
Third, we must ensure that women have the opportunity to
support themselves. One of the factors forcing Syrians to make
the difficult decision to leave for Europe is that they are
unable to legally work, particularly in Jordan and Lebanon.
While we recognize that this is politically complicated, the
U.S. Government should work with host countries to allow
refugees to legally work. With as many as 28 percent of Syrian
refugee households headed by women, it is particularly
important to focus on their needs.
I urge Congress to seize this moment of heightened
attention for the plight of Syrian refugees to push for a
lasting political solution so that millions of innocent Syrians
can return to their homes and we can turn our attention to
helping them rebuild their lives. Thank you, and I would be
happy to answer questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ray follows:]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, sir.
Mr. Bowers.
STATEMENT OF MR. MICHAEL BOWERS, VICE PRESIDENT, HUMANITARIAN
LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSE, MERCY CORPS
Mr. Bowers. My colleagues are eloquent. I hope I can do
them well. Madam Chair, Ranking Member Deutch, thank you very
much for inviting me today to testify. Last month I spent time
on the island of Lesbos, Greece, which serves as a way station
for many Syrian refugees on their long journey to Europe. There
I saw thousands of people who have risked everything they have
to flee for their lives; the vast majority of them fleeing the
civil war in Syria, but many of them also fleeing Syria's
unstable neighbors.
I am glad my colleague provided some faces of the people
who are affected, but let me also try to provide some voice to
the people we are encountering on this journey. ``Crossing is
very dangerous, but we are looking for a small dream.'' This
from a small, young Syrian boy from Hama told our team in
Lesbos. He added that ``We had to escape. In Syria there is
only death and killing.'' Another 14-year-old Syrian youth
named Hammed, we met, had lost his leg when a barrel bomb fell
into his school. Though he had already made it to Lesbos he
wondered out loud how he would continue his journey on crutches
all the way to Austria, his intended destination.
Though most of the people we met in Greece were men and
older boys sent ahead by their families to establish a base in
Europe, women also make up this trip into fragile crafts
crossing the Aegean. Babies just a week old or two were found
on the beaches as well as these boys. It is something to
highlight that the Syrians we met in Lesbos are in the minority
though, those able to pull together the substantial resources
required to reach the beaches of Lesbos. Many Syrians in the
region cannot pull together that same amount of money, an
endeavor costing many families their entire savings.
I have also spoken with the mayor of Athens and other
global city leaders on how ill-prepared they feel in supporting
and accommodating thousands of migrants and refugees flowing
into Europe. Countries neighboring Syria know this situation
all too well as we know. Tragically, Syrians are worse off
today than they were a year ago, whether they are in Syria or
living in neighboring countries.
Regional host countries that are receiving the vast
majority of refugees face particular strain on their resources,
as my colleagues mentioned, and as long as the war drags on we
find more and more challenges to cope with. Humanitarian aid to
assist those fleeing unimaginable violence in Syria is critical
and the U.S. Government has been generous, as we have
mentioned. Still, ending this crisis and its impact on the
region requires more than writing checks.
Absent a political solution in Syria, the situation will
not abate. I cannot say without hesitation that for Mercy Corps
and my colleague organizations, Syria is probably one of the
most hostile and complex environments we have ever worked. It
is an active war zone where very few areas could be described
as safe and operations are carried out at great risk, as a
member mentioned before.
Yet in the face of extraordinarily difficult circumstances
through our local partnerships with Syrian civil society
groups, we have been able to respond to humanitarian needs at
large of scale. In Syria, Mercy Corps is one of the largest
providers of food assistance as well as essential supplies that
people need to survive and maintain a modicum of dignity and
small comfort, who are working hard to provide clean access to
water and sanitation and to find a means to earn an income.
These response efforts continue to be just a drop in the
bucket, however, compared to the exponentially growing needs.
The humanitarian community is struggling to assist hundreds of
thousands of innocent people who need our help, and to be
direct, the sheer number of people in need is staggering. Their
needs grow ever greater and more desperate by the day, and
there is still no end in sight.
Let me quickly tell you what we are seeing on the ground.
Protection continues to be the number one challenge facing
Syrians who are still in the country. On a daily basis,
civilians living outside of the area where the coalition is
fighting ISIS face unrelenting aerial attacks including the
threat of barrel bombs dropped by the Syrian regime.
And we are witnessing the tragic outcomes of an entire
generation of Syrian children and youth growing up in a war
zone. Instead of worrying about their schoolwork, they worry
whether their family or themselves would be killed. They are
frustrated and isolated. Young women in particular never leave
their homes. Young men and women both experience a sense of
powerlessness and humiliation.
Not surprisingly, when faced with this bleak option for
their children, many families hazard the long and dangerous
trip to Europe, trusting their fates to luck and smugglers in
the absence of a legal, well-regulated path. And while many
have left for Europe, many more have remained in Syria and the
neighboring host countries seeking support to carve out a life
of meaning and dignity.
For the first time since Mercy Corps started delivering aid
into the Aleppo Governorate 3 years ago, families we spoke to
this week said they depend solely on our food aid. Their
personal resources are now completely gone. Without this aid
they would go hungry. In August alone Mercy Corps delivered
over 3,000 tons of food to 400,000 people, and yet that is not
enough.
Layered on these challenges, humanitarians are grappling
with a new development: The entry of Russia into this
battlefield and the resulting internationalization of the armed
conflict, which comes with higher standard for civilian
protection as outlined in the Geneva Protocols, yet we already
are seeing concerning reports of increased numbers of civilians
casualties in these areas impacted by the Russian strikes. If
this intensity of strikes continues, we will prepare for the
possibility of significant redistribution of IDPs, internally
displaced people.
The largest obstacle for delivering in Syria is, of course,
access. A July 2015 Operational Peer Review by the IASC on the
Syria crisis responded that less than 1 percent of over 400,000
people in besieged areas receive any kind of assistance from
U.N. agencies, and on average only 5 percent of 4.5 million in
hard to reach areas receive any assistance on a monthly basis.
While the situation is bleak, there are a number of
concrete steps that Congress can take now to help the people of
Syria. I would like to leave the committee with just a few of
them. First, as my colleagues said, provide adequate funding
for humanitarian assistance and longer term needs. This month
alone, the joint U.N. and NGO appeal in Iraq are barely funded
at 30 and 46 percent, respectively. A few weeks ago the World
Food Program had to unavoidably cut food aid for people in
Jordan. It is more important than ever to shore up funding for
these humanitarian accounts.
Secondly, change the U.S. Government approach to assisting
fragile states. The widespread nature of the worst refugee
crisis since World War II should be a wake-up call. Third,
provide conditions for the dignity of refugees in the Middle
East, particularly by enabling them to work and access
education by shoring up for resources for host communities. And
then finally, as it can't be emphasized enough, the
humanitarians are not a solution to this crisis, and I urge
this Congress to work with the administration to seek immediate
diplomatic assistance to end this war. Thank you. I look
forward to your comments.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bowers follows:]
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Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you. Thank you to each and every
one of you, and thank you for the work that you are doing.
Because we will have to adjourn by noon, I am going to save my
excellent questions but I am going to Mr. Rohrabacher to start.
Mr. Rohrabacher. We have people who need clothing,
blankets, shelter and food, and certainly Americans should be
able to understand ordinary people who are in a desperate
situation. I am going to give you a chance now to say something
to the American people because the visions that they have been
having lately have not been the ones that you are presenting
today.
When we see these little kids and our hearts go out, I
mean, I have 11-year-old triplets at home and of course I
identify with any picture of a child, any parent does. But we
keep seeing these pictures of the migration and the people who
are fleeing Syria as being strong young males. That is the
image now.
And if the American people get this, but number one if it
is accurate, but even if it is not accurate, this will be very
detrimental to providing the clothing, the blankets, the
shelter and the food for the children and for people who are in
a desperate situation. Because quite frankly we would expect
healthy young males to be fighting for their own freedom and
not having refuge in Jordan or someplace else. Have Jordanians
fight against the people who would kill them.
So I would like for you to talk to the American people now.
When they see those men, very virile young men, especially the
migrants in the pictures from Hungary are frankly very
upsetting to me when you see these trainloads of young men who
are said they are desperate refugees. So put that in
perspective to me, and it needs to be addressed. Who wants to
do it?
Mr. Bowers. Thank you, Congressman. I think it is important
to note that yes, the majority of them may be the young males
or men in general. In fact, we think of the 400,000-plus or
350,000-plus fleeing into Europe around 60 percent may be male.
They could be young. We also should recognize in that
population they are vulnerable as well. There are many
unaccompanied minors, young males, in that group.
The primary motive for why men are going is because they
are seen as the primary livelihood earner, so they are seeking
employment opportunities in Europe. They are seeking shelter
and safety of course on the way, but they are seen as a
remittance opportunity to bring money back into where their
homes are or their families are, be it refugees or not. So many
of them are seeking to go there because they want to earn an
income, because in many of these host countries that they live
in they are not allowed to legally work so essentially they are
depending on our aid.
The American people should not be frightened that there are
young men fleeing. They should be frightened that the scope of
the people fleeing at this point indicates we are at a tipping
point that these Syrians and many of the migrants no longer see
a future or hope in staying in either refugee camps or
obviously in Syria itself. So that hopelessness is now
encompassing their need to find a different future. Many of
these men will try to earn an income to bring then their
families with them, be it their wives or sisters or children
themselves.
I think we could also demonstrate to the American people as
the World Vision poll would indicate that what binds us as a
country is our compassion for those humanitarian needs and that
people are fleeing war and they have a right to seek refuge. So
I would argue that the American people should see not only
faces of boys, but everyone in that spectrum and how those boys
and men need our assistance as well.
Mr. Smith. I would like to just add to Mr. Bowers'
comments. When a family is in Jordan or in Lebanon and trying
to decide who should go to Europe to kind of lead the way, are
they going to send young women, single women? No. Are they
going to send a mother and child? No. The most able person to
send would be their young men. And so those are the people who
are going first, and in many ways opening the door for the rest
of the family to come, or as my colleague has said, earn money
there and send it back. The families are going to send the
least vulnerable, and so that is why you are seeing a lot of
young men going.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Those are some very good answers. Thank
you. Do you have something to add?
Ms. Romero. Yes. I would just add that it does--I agree
with everything that has been said, and it does underscore the
need to really work with host governments to look at the legal
registration and the livelihoods and job opportunities for
refugees because they are leaving Syria and neighboring
countries out of desperation. On the one hand from Syria
because of the violence, but from the neighboring countries
because they can't work there.
So initiatives particularly identifying parts of the labor
market where there are gaps, where there are needs, existing
work programs being built on would help address these issues.
Mr. Rohrabacher. Well, thank you very much. And one thing
for the record, Madam Chairman, is that for those people who
are leaving and our refugees who are Muslims, I think that it
is absolutely despicable that oil-rich countries like Saudi
Arabia are not taking in more of these people as compared to
Jordan who it is a very poor country. And so we have to work
with the Jordanians in helping pick up the slack. Thank you
very much.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you very much, Mr. Rohrabacher. Mr.
Deutch is recognized.
Mr. Deutch. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Ms. Bowers, you
talked about an issue that I think is really important to focus
on which is the issue of access. If all of you could speak to
what you are hearing from your partners on the ground about
their ability to access areas, specifically areas controlled by
ISIS and then areas controlled by the Assad regime.
Mr. Bowers, you gave some numbers, 5 percent of difficult
to reach areas. If you could walk through that and if everyone
could speak to that. And those areas that are unreachable for
aid; that are totally unreachable at this point, if you could
estimate how many people live within those areas who aren't
getting any aid at all.
Mr. Ray. I will just jump in briefly to respond to the
question about the numbers. We have slightly different--in
these circumstances it is always difficult to get definitive
numbers to work with. The latest estimates I have seen in terms
of the ability to reach people in besieged areas, areas that
are surrounded by military and right in the middle of conflict,
is that over the course of the summer the U.N. and its
partners, which would include all of us, were able to reach
only about 9 percent of people in need in those besieged areas,
and that is only with medical services and that does not
include food or other kinds of humanitarian needs. That figure
goes up to about 24 percent in so-called hard to reach areas.
I don't have a good fix on what the number of people are
that are in those areas that are not being reached at all, but
even in those areas and with these numbers those are obviously
woefully low. We believe that one of the main reasons that
those numbers are that low is because of the ongoing violence
inflicted by both the Syrian Government on its own people
through the use of indiscriminate weapons like barrel bombs, as
well as obviously the brutality of ISIS. And until those issues
are addressed it is going to continue to be extremely difficult
for any of us to get access on any kind of consistent basis to
those who are in greatest need.
So I would just echo again what I said earlier. We believe
that unless and until there are real and serious consequences
for those who break those resolutions that those kinds of
attacks will continue to go on.
Mr. Bowers. If I could add, I think the difficulty too,
roughly you could say \1/2\ million people in besieged areas at
any one point during a month are very difficult to reach. That
is in a population of up to 7 million internally displaced. So
though that number sounds smaller relative to the overall need,
again it is a significant issue in terms of how we broker or
negotiate access into those besieged areas. The complication
now of having Russian military involvement makes it just even
worse. Obviously if there is a major counteroffensive going on,
we will lose access. If roadblocks or other additional things
are set up, those conduits we had before will be lost.
What we don't know always scares us, and I would say what
we definitely don't know is the level of consistency of aid in
those areas is also an issue. So though you may get a
distribution in one time, you may lose it the next month.
Mr. Deutch. And if I could just ask, given the numbers you
describe, if there were any type of safe zone created, if you
could create one anywhere in the country in the place that
would be the easiest--it is not easy. That is a different
discussion. But if you could create a safe zone, how many
people, how many lives could you save? Can you estimate that?
How many people could have access to lifesaving aid?
Mr. Bowers. I am going to be a little controversial and
basically say we are troubled by safe zone policy talk. In
theory, yes, a safe zone you could get say a governorate of
Aleppo, maybe 200,000 if not more. But that is in theory. So
ideally with a safe zone you obviously are neutralizing any
aerial issues, but in addition you need to have the ability to
control those forces on the ground. So even if you remove
aerial issues, which is significant in this environment, you
would need to sort of figure out how do those combatants on the
ground react? They are not going to recognize a safe zone
anymore than Assad perhaps would not with his aerial
bombardment. So safe zones have to be thought of in a very,
very careful way. I don't believe in this current context it is
a very actionable item, frankly, given this time.
Mr. Deutch. I would--go ahead.
Mr. Bowers. Please.
Mr. Deutch. Listen, that is the debate that is going on and
I am just trying to figure out, and I get it. We call it safe
zone but combatants won't view it that way. It would be
difficult to maintain. I understand all that. All I am trying
to figure out is if it could be done and if it could be done
correctly, what is the potential impact? And I understand you
are advising against it. I just want to know if it a plan were
devised to do it in such a way to create a true safe zone what
impact? Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith. Similar to my colleague Mr. Bowers, we have
problems with safe zones. We do recognize that they have been
used in the past to varying degrees of effect. In some cases
they have gone horribly wrong and in some cases they have gone
relatively well. We would really--I think, there are a lot of
conditions that would need to be met before we discussed safe
zones. And so the right to protect is something that we take
very seriously and we do recognize that international
humanitarian law does allow for safe zones, but in terms of the
conditions that need to be met before we have that discussion
they are quite lengthy. And we honestly feel that the
diplomatic efforts in terms of trying to address this issue
have not been exhausted and matter of fact have not really been
vigorously pursued, and until we have exhausted that I think it
is really difficult for us to discuss the safety zones.
Mr. Deutch. That is a fair point and we ought to certainly
be able to agree that it would have a dramatic impact. And we
know what the impact would be right now if the world decided
that we would no longer tolerate barrel bombing.
Mr. Smith. Absolutely.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much.
Mr. Deutch. If I could, Madam Chairman, if I could just----
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Yes, without objection they would be
entered into the record.
Thank you so much. Mr. Trott is recognized.
Mr. Trott. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I want to thank all
the panelists for taking time to be here this morning. And I
think all of you mentioned in your comments the need to end the
conflict is a critical element, any solution, and I am just
curious if you could get some insight on what a solution looks
like, how we get there, particularly in light of Russia's
involvement.
Mr. Ray. I would say that as humanitarian organizations the
political considerations about what kind of a solution might be
reached are really beyond our mandate and our area of
expertise. I would underline, however, that without a real
concerted effort on behalf of the United States and other
international powers there is not going to be a solution, and
we need to see increased emphasis from our own government and
from those in Europe in order to see any chance of a solution
reached.
In the meantime, there are real things that can be done to
minimize the humanitarian consequences, and among those are the
efforts to actually enforce the kind of resolutions that have
been put in place to stop the kinds of indiscriminate attacks
that are harming so many civilians. So the protection of
civilians needs to be heightened and it needs to be given very
serious consideration even while debate goes on about how to
reach a negotiated settlement.
Ms. Romero. Yes, I would add to that. I was at a discussion
recently with a number of groups that involved some Syrian
Americans and some Syrian groups, and consistently they said
that they felt that the U.S. was the one government that could
broker this by bringing together the right set of actors. And
that really struck me, because sitting here I am like none of
those actors like us, I thought, so I would not have jumped to
that conclusion.
But really that is the sense in the region. That the U.S.
has a power of convening that has not really been effectively
utilized, so the first thing would be to really commit to that.
Convene the players in the surrounding region that we know are
supporting various actors that are contributing to this
conflict, supporting the U.N. process that is already going on.
There is a series of working groups that the U.N. has convened
that are working on different aspects of the conflict and of
humanitarian assistance. Engaging with that more forcefully, I
think would send a loud signal.
And then as my colleague has already said, supporting some
interim measures such as this protection mechanism that is also
at the table at the U.N. that has been suggested, or proposed
rather, by the French Government. Really getting some
mechanisms on the ground to the extent that we are able to send
a stronger message that the kind of civilian protection
violations going on right now are not acceptable.
Mr. Trott. Mr. Bowers, do you have any comment?
Mr. Bowers. Yes, I would add, and respectively to the
chair's comments, to begin with Russia and Iran do have a role
here. It is a regional war and increasingly a global security
threat, so you would need to look at the P5+Germany as the
central actors to be discussing how to cease, first and
foremost, these aerial attacks, and look for the conditions to
create greater humanitarian access, be it call it safe zones or
not, but that is in a comprehensive way.
And I do think President Obama and the Europeans that are
involved here and the P5 who need to come together and
understand that. Now you have the G20 coming up in Turkey. Why
there is not an opportunity to sit down and really look at
this, I don't know. That is something that this administration
should focus on. And Russia's recent involvement only
highlights the need for them to be at the table to peacefully
resolve that.
Mr. Trott. Mr. Bowers, you mentioned in your comments that
the U.S. needs to change its approach to fragile states. How
would you change that approach and what steps should we
consider here in Congress?
Mr. Bowers. There is much more detail in my written
testimony, but a lot of the work that we do right now of course
as humanitarians is very short term. A lot of structural issues
that these countries, especially host countries as well as
Syria itself are predicated already on fragility--bad
governance, poor infrastructure, et cetera. So the way the U.S.
Government right now funnels assistance and humanitarian aid is
more or less segregated. We have great difficulties working
together to sort of bring a more holistic approach, both short
term saving lives and livelihoods, as well as trying to address
the sources of instability, the cycles of violence that will
continue should and when there will be a peace.
So both are proposals I think that our colleagues would
support as well. Focus on enhancing humanitarian aid, but also
looking at structural changes in how the U.S. Government
administers aid in these fragile states.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Trott. Thank you. Mr.
Cicilline.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Madam Chairman. I believe you
indicated that 41 percent of the current U.N. effort is funded,
so that is a huge unmet need. And I wondered if each of you
would share who you think, which countries do you think should
be donating to meet the U.N. appeal and on. I think we should
call them out and know that so we can use the influence
hopefully that Congress has to help suggest to some of them
they should be doing their part.
Mr. Ray. I will just say I think many times several members
of the committee have called out the nations in the region, and
in fact certainly they could be doing more. We don't have
definitive figures, but it looks like Kuwait has given
something like 304 million, Qatar about 9\1/2\, Saudi Arabia
about 18\1/2\, UAE somewhere in the neighborhood of 42\1/2\.
But certainly those countries are capable of doing much more.
That said, I think there is--every country is going to have to
do more including the U.S.
Mr. Cicilline. No, I recognize that and I am not suggesting
we shouldn't, but it is helpful to know the countries that you
believe have the capacity to do more that aren't, and I wonder
if anyone has any other countries to add to that list.
Mr. Bowers. The formal mechanism for how those appeals go
out typically look at all the bilateral contributions. I think
for the nations that Mr. Ray has talked about we have seen
inconsistent pledges in that and I think we would be supportive
of them being more consistent at higher levels, especially the
richer Arab nations.
We obviously are concerned about robbing one account for
another. You have humanitarian needs in Yemen, Iraq, other
places in the Arab world in particular that they have interest
in. But I would think in addition to Mr. Ray's comments, we are
looking for an international approach that deals with
resettlement too. Resettlement is not cheap. It is over $1
billion in the U.S. just for the current allotment. So I think
we need to look at it comprehensively.
Mr. Cicilline. Okay. I also understand that the U.N. does
not currently run any refugee camps in Lebanon, and I wondered
if you could tell me how is assistance getting to the refugees
that are in Lebanon and what resources are in place to make
sure that we are tracking them and ensuring that they are
receiving services that they need while in Lebanon?
Mr. Smith. It is true that there are no camps in Lebanon
and that is a decision by the Lebanese Government. That is not
a decision by the aid community, and so we work with the
constraints that are put on us by the host governments. Most of
the people that we would be dealing with obviously are then
going into the host community into the urban environments.
Informal camps are popping up. You will have people who are
taking residence in abandoned buildings. They will be going in
with families.
We were talking recently with a sheikh from Lebanon who was
telling us that in the early days of the crisis the Lebanese
community really opened their arms to the Syrian population
coming in. We are now into our fifth year. Things are starting
to get strained. As it has been mentioned, a quarter of the
population in Lebanon are Syrians, and so it becomes very
difficult. As agencies we have experience working in these
types of environments. We don't just work in camps. Matter of
fact, in Jordan and in Turkey, most of the people who are in
these countries as refugees are not in camps.
So we have gained expertise in terms of working with non-
camp refugees. We know how to do the assessments. We know how
to identify people. We know how to put mechanisms in place to
track how we are doing. So it is something that we are skilled
at, we just realize that that is the reality. Most people are
not in camp environments and Lebanon is a classic example of
that.
Mr. Cicilline. Thank you. And Ms. Romero, I and 71 of my
colleagues have called on the United States to accept an
additional 100,000 refugees, a total of 200,000 refugees in
total. And when you look at what is happening, particularly in
Jordan and Lebanon where they are being asked to absorb just
huge numbers of refugees, how would our going to that number
impact the actual magnitude of the problem, and what impact is
it likely to have on the willingness of other countries to
accept refugees?
Ms. Romero. Thanks. I mean, I think you would see more
Syrians looking at this as an option. That would put pressure
on other countries as well as on the conflict and on the
humanitarian assistance.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Ms. Romero, I am going to stop you for a
second just because we have a few more folks who want to ask
questions.
Ms. Romero. Okay.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. And if we have enough time, Mr.
Cicilline, we will get back to that.
Ms. Romero. Right.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Your time is up. Mr. Meadows of North
Carolina.
Mr. Meadows. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you for
calling this hearing because it is the compassionate hearts of
Americans that get lived out each and every day by some of your
organizations. I know that my wife and I have contributed
personally over some time to some of your organizations not
knowing where the money went, just knowing that is was reaching
out to a people group that perhaps we would never know or never
see. So I just want to applaud each of you for your effort to
meet the very basics of humanitarian relief. So I thank you.
I am a little bit concerned, Mr. Ray and Mr. Smith, when we
talked about free zones both of you got visibly nervous. And so
Mr. Smith let me come to you because you said under a number of
different circumstances they may work well. I need you to
illuminate that a little bit mainly because the dialogue of
additional negotiations whether it be at the U.N. or be with
the United States leading those negotiations, there is not a
lot of hope for the American people that that is going to be
productive. We have seen a lot of negotiations already take
place, and we as Americans want to believe that we can find
that common ground. And yet at times it is extremely difficult
especially within Syria where you have a number of different
factions.
So Mr. Smith, can you help me understand the path on those
free zones that how can we make that work?
Mr. Smith. So the right to protect has been discussed
significantly within the humanitarian community. If we were to
take a look at, we look at free zones, we look at the use of
force to protect civilians as really a last resort. It is not
kind of a first go-to, it is a last resort. We would need to go
through a checklist of things that include clear and compelling
need for immediate protection; trained and disciplined
intervening forces are provided; have a clear mandate for
civilian protection including a timetable specific for
protection objectives; clear rules of engagement; establishing
of a civil-military coordination mechanism where force is
applied it is only applied for the protection of civilians.
Mr. Meadows. Okay, let me stop you because I only have a
limited time and we are about to have to adjourn. So with that
long list have any of those steps been embarked upon at this
point to create at least that framework to hit the first two or
three?
Mr. Smith. You really would be looking at needing a special
calling of the U.N. Security Council to begin discussing this,
and that has not happened.
Mr. Ray. If I could just add very briefly, there was an
excellent paper produced by InterAction in November of last
year on safe zones that I would recommend to the committee as
you explore these options.
Mr. Meadows. All right. In the interest of time I will
yield back, Madam Chairman.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much, Mr. Meadows.
Ms. Frankel.
Ms. Frankel. Thank you again. And Madam Chairman, thank you
again for this hearing and to the panel for your time and your
work. I just wanted to start off again by saying that to me
this is probably the most horrific humanitarian crisis of our
generation. And I think there is a lot of good debatable
questions about military action and whether it would be helpful
or not, but I do think there is no question about humanitarian
assistance and I think that is an absolute, a must. Not only
because it is morally the right thing to do, but we will pay
the penalty. Our children will pay the penalty if we ignore
this. Because to have people fleeing Syria, these refugees
coming into now Europe, there is going to be economic
consequences. And to have a generation of unhappy,
disenfranchised young people, the world will pay the penalty
for that.
I have a couple of questions. Number one, are there any
safe areas in Syria now and who control those areas? Number
two, yesterday we heard testimony from folks who were saying
that we should use more vouchers than give direct food aid. I
would like to get your opinion on that. Three, I would like to
know if you think the United Nations is doing enough. And
number four, if you can get to number four, from what you see
on the ground is there any indication that there are any
peaceful, sane people who could fill the void of an Assad
leaving? Those are my four questions. Somebody jump in.
Ms. Romero. I don't think I can handle all four, but I will
speak to the vouchers issue. I think that generally the use of
food vouchers or the use of vouchers that can be used for a
number of needs are preferable because they allow refugees to
choose what they need and to use those for flexible purposes,
so would support that.
And in terms of the U.N.'s inaction or action there have
been fits and starts. But at the end of the day, the U.N.
starts with its member states, so yes, more could be done and
more is needed and that requires more political will from the
states that comprise it.
Ms. Frankel. Just quickly, do all of you agree with the
answer on the voucher issue? You do. Okay. Could someone answer
the question on whether there is any place that you feel is
safe now in Syria?
Mr. Bowers. There is a desert. To be honest, not to be
flippant. When you look at the map in terms of violence and
activities of course you can see the contours of what ISIS
maintains, what the Government of Syria maintains, and then
sort of the areas in between, Free Syrian Army, other groups.
So I would hesitate to say that--1 year you could say yes.
Idlib was safe last year, not anymore, right. Two years or
three years ago maybe it was Al-Raqqah, not anymore. So that is
some of the difficulty in declaring safe zone issues. Until we
go through a very thorough issue of how do you declare that
truly safe through protective needs, no area in Syria is safe,
frankly, from bombardment.
Ms. Frankel. And would you say from what you are seeing on
the ground, are all the different forces whether it is Assad,
ISIL, al-Nusra, are they all equally terrible to the people?
Mr. Ray. It is hard to rank them in a level of awfulness.
Yes, thank you. But I would say that I have seen estimates that
as high as 95 percent of the civilian deaths are actually being
caused by the Syrian military itself and through the use of
indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs.
Mr. Smith. I might also add further to my colleagues'
comments. The humanitarian space is shrinking. It was wider
before, as Mr. Bowers said, and it is shrinking. And we were
just talking to our Syrian staff this morning, and the comments
with respect to the Russian strikes, it is now in the Idlib
area. Where we are working we had to adjust a planned
distribution yesterday because of the strikes. We are being
told that civilians are being killed with respect to the
strikes. One thing that was very disturbing was one of our
staff reported that they came in and bombed, and then when
people came to assist the injured they came in and bombed
again.
And so we are just seeing that the space that we have to
work in is getting smaller. We were working in areas before
that were considered safe to work in. ISIS moved in, we
continued to work there for some time until security concerns
did not allow us to remain there. So we have moved into non-
ISIS controlled areas, but now they are getting closer to that
area as well. And so our space is shrinking.
Mr. Ray. If I may just speak to the question about sane and
peaceful people, briefly, I would say that one of the things
that gives me hope in an otherwise pretty bleak situation are
the people that we all work with in terms of our local partner
organizations. There are people who are doing incredible work.
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you, Mr. Ray, and that gives us
hope as well. Thank you. Mr. Higgins, you are our last question
and answer.
Mr. Higgins. Yes, when you talked about humanitarian
protection, and within the middle of a brutal civil war it is
kind of an elusive goal. I mean, you have acknowledged, all of
you that you reach a very small percentage of the people who
are actually in need. So in order to help solve the
humanitarian crisis, I think we have got to stick with trying
to solve the political crisis.
We have got a situation in Syria where now you have got
Bashar al-Assad who obviously is a bad guy, an Alawite that
represents probably 12 to 14 percent of the population
supported by Arab Christians and Kurds, not because they like
what he is doing but they are afraid they will get slaughtered
if the Sunni Arab majority takes over.
Mr. Bowers, you had indicated that we have reached the
tipping point. People aren't just leaving to flee the conflict,
they ain't coming back. They have given up entirely on Syria.
So who do you negotiate peace with? And then you have got
Bashar al-Assad who probably have 1,000 militias. Their best
fighter are Islamic extremists and al-Qaeda affiliates of the
Islamic State that we made an attempt to train and arm the
moderate militias, which we were going to vet and spent about
$\1/2\ billion doing so, and we end up with three or four
qualified fighters.
I don't want to say that this is hopeless, but this seems
hopeless, and it is extraordinary that you do the work that you
do in these places. How do you stay protected and how do you--
obviously there is no light here, it is all dark. And the dark
are interconnected pieces which add up to one big seemingly
unsolvable problem.
Mr. Ray, you were talking before time expired, and complete
your thoughts about----
Mr. Ray. Not a lot more to say about that other than to
recognize the really selfless work of the local partner
organizations that we work with on the ground inside Syria as
well as the people who are working as volunteers and serving
their own communities in Lebanon and Jordan and Egypt and
Turkey where there are so many refugees. Those folks are going
to be the future of Syria and the people who are going to put
this all back together again when eventually there is some kind
of political settlement.
Mr. Higgins. What distinguishes them? I presume they are
Syrian based non-governmental organizations.
Mr. Ray. They are, and many of them actually registered in
the U.S. and in Europe. But they have been organized by Syrians
who recognize the need and who may not have the length and
depth of experience of some of the international organizations,
but who are eager to learn and eager to do the work well and
who are eager to serve the folks in their communities who need
their assistance.
Mr. Higgins. When they talk about the political situation
what do they say when they----
Mr. Ray. I think they are aware of all the complexities
that you just alluded to. It is a very difficult situation and
they know it, but they also know that unless they continue to
provide those kinds of humanitarian services that in fact there
is no hope and that they have to continue to do that and we
have to continue to assist them.
Mr. Higgins. Okay.
Mr. Smith. I was just going to say two things. When we talk
about access, access in many of the hard to reach places are
only through our Syrian partners. And so their role in this
work is absolutely essential and crucial because we can't get
there in many cases. So whatever we can do to ensure that we
can work effectively with Syrian partners is something that we
would encourage you as well. We do not need more roadblocks put
in our way in terms of our work with Syrian partners.
Mr. Higgins. Are the number of those Syrian partners
increasing or decreasing?
Mr. Smith. I would say that we are always looking for more
Syrian partners just with the shrinking space. So we work with
a number. All of us work with a number of Syrian partners in
the region and their work is absolutely essential.
Mr. Higgins. Thank you. My time is expired. I yield back.
Mr. Ros-Lehtinen. Thank you so much. All of our
subcommittee members want to thank you and your organizations
for the great work that you are doing to bring assistance to
those who need it so desperately in Syria and elsewhere,
because your work is everywhere else as well. And we applaud
you. We applaud your organizations. We will continue to seek
ways to best support you. And with that the subcommittee is
adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 12:03 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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