ladies and gentlemen if i could ask you to have your of of seats please it would be appreciate it thank you all so very much i'd be less than candid if i didn't say that this is all a real hearing room most of our hearings and briefings we don't have all this fine extraordinary facility here so i'm very pleased that we were able to get this room for today's important hearing i'm also pleased to welcome all of you here of all for our hearing regarding the plight of iraq e refugees and their impact on the countries that are hosting them in particular member and partner mediterranean affairs all for the oil the parliamentary assembly and therefore have a keen interest in the partner states their neighbors in the region today's hearing is going to focus on how security or lack thereof in iraq has impacted the people of that country all two million iraqis have fled primarily to syria and jordan to and for ten million displaced within their own country and others are displaced in other areas that we are not certain of their numbers this is a law just displacement substantially increased funding to assist displaced the rockies and to expedite resettlement of those who seek shelter in the united states i'm just coming from a press all their citizens jordan a small country of six million people has received more than half a million iraqi refugees all this amounts to an eight percent increase in its population  essentially a two year period of to put this in perspective it would be the equivalent of the united states enduring a stream of twenty four million traumatized people across our borders all in the same timeframe poverty unemployment and inflation on the rise in jordan making it extremely difficult for the jordanian government and society to cope with the influx of refugees syria straining on and iraq a refugee population more than double that of jordan faces economic and political challenges as well in its efforts to support all displaced in the rockies i also personally see this as a right an opportunity for greater and more sustained diplomatic efforts to work in that area with syria or the day to day needs of iraqis continue to increase their resources are diminishing all multiple families all sharing tents and hovels dwellings in other places and seeking medical attention and then many of them frequently  leaving increasingly large numbers of the rocky refugee population simmering in a cauldron of stress and depression this situation does not bode well for long term social societal stability and potentially makes the refugees vulnerable to influence by extremist groups who can provide assistance i wish to underscore that because there twelve thousand iraqi refugees this year and will increase humanitarian assistance for displaced iraqis to two hundred million in two thousand and eight up from forty three million in two thousand  however i must say that only small steps in the right direction the increase in humanitarian assistance assistance is a paltry sum all compared to the three hundred thirty eight million our government spends each day on combat operations in iraq working with the rocky refugees estimate that one and a half billion dollars in humanitarian assistance is needed this year to  meet even basic needs in addition the united states says it made it only four thousand nine hundred thirty three a rocky refugees between april two thousand and three and march thirty first of this year my friends and sweet and one of them is here that i've known thirteen years and is the chair of the foreign affairs of the all swedish parliament urban all pronounce the name of the city because i don't want to mess it up but he will he do it all right without ever met with me was on the front page of the logic of the day and i'm pleased about that but listen sweden has about nine million people and they have accepted thirty four thousand refugees since two thousand and three the city that i refer to has accepted five thousand a city of eighty three thousand people all that has to have an impact on their infrastructure and i ask all if sweden can do thirty four thousand we here in the united states do more before i introduce peril just like to know that all while the media presidential candidates and many in congress are focused on the politics of iraq whether or not the surge is working and the way for i say this we cannot overlook this humanitarian crisis in suing in the region are rocky refugees and internally displaced persons need our help if we do not bro focus on iraq the security implications could potentially destabilize the region we have before us today two panels of distinguished witnesses that will come back to their biographies have been distributed tables outside so i will not when i do introduce them go into great detail of certainly look forward to their advice regarding how our government and of those addressed this deep crisis one final note for me when i was in jordan in the summer i was particularly pleased that the king had taken cognizance of the need to educate the children notwithstanding limited resources all those children of the iraqi refugees are considered out of critical importance and i applaud all the jordanian our government as i do my colleagues and friends in sweden of for to the government of sweden as well and if you add all of the number of iraqis who had immigrated there many of them being asylum seekers close to call up to one hundred thousand iraqis are in sweden again underscoring i think a a very sense a strong sense of generosity on their part and i think it is important to point that out and hold it up so that others see it not just in the united states but also among our european friends and partners i do want to thank you mr chairman for calling this very timely hearing on the deeply disturbing plight of iraqi refugees and the impact that the crisis is having i know as the partner states and neighbors the numbers that are associated with this crisis are staggering one in five iraqis have been displaced from their homes since two that is already beset as we all know by a catastrophic series of humanitarian and political challenges it is reported that most of those who have fled iraq are so called moderates lawyers doctors and other working class professionals even though they are not allowed to work legally in their countries of refuge it seems many if not most are saying that they have no intention to return to iraq their resources to the extent that they were able to leave with them are quickly when dealing jordan syria and other neighboring countries are state parties to the one hundred fifty one un convention relating to the status of refugees or the one thousand nine hundred eighty seven protocol and these countries refuse to recognize the iraqi populations as refugees and to accord them the rights and benefits that accompany such a designation preferring instead to refer to them as guests this refusal is due at least in part to these countries historical experience and ongoing challenges with the palestinian refugee population which is also complicating the iraqi situation syria and jordan every see the vast majority of those fleeing iraq an estimated one and a half million are in syria and five hundred to seven hundred fifty thousand have escaped to jordan unicef reports that half of those who have fled their homes in iraq are children and that is many as three thousand three hundred twenty thousand iraqi children are in syria alone refugee children who are allowed to attend the public schools must try to learn in seriously overcrowded classrooms uncertainty about their residence permits and visas creates another barrier to education as many parents are reluctant to seek out these and other social services furthermore poverty is probably many  children out of school and forcing them to work placing them in extremely vulnerable situations in addition to deprive them of the learning that they will need to secure hope for the future women are also being exploited and many  resorting to prostitution in order to provide for themselves and their families and addition to suffering and other risk the circumstances in her only engender i am also deeply concerned as to whether a door has been opened for human traffickers who would be all too anxious to take advantage of such vulnerabilities not only would they see opportunities within the host countries but perhaps even more so at the borders where they could take advantage of the narran possibility of obtaining an iraqi passport and the refusal of neighboring countries to issue visas circumstances that encourage human smuggling which in turn has the opportunities for human trafficking i look forward to engaging our witnesses in the discussion as to whether or not there is any indication that this human rights violation is occurring another serious humanitarian concern is the health status of iraqi refugees it is dismaying and extraordinarily tragic to point out that a surprising number of refugees in syria especially children have various forms of cancer others with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure and diabetes are unable to manage these diseases due to the high cost of health care and the shortage of humanitarian assistance in this area there are organizations that are struggling to address these needs including the catholic relief services which is not only funding mobile clinics kidney dialysis and prescriptions for chronic diseases but also mental health support groups to try to address the psychoso social consequences of the violence that these refugees have endured and yet the health educational and other basic needs of this enormous population remain remain great and current efforts are not sufficient to address them the situation is also exacerbating the poverty social services and political tensions among citizens of the host countries tensions that need to be quelled before they explode that is why once again mr chairman i appreciate this opportunity to hear from  and this show lava has an extraordinary set of credentials as associate director of refugee asylum and international operations for u s citizenship and immigration services and before joining the department of homeland security or she most recently served as chairman of the board of immigration appeals without getting into the executive office for immigration review at the department of justice not going into a full curriculum she finished the university of maryland undergraduate and of if you would thank you mr chairman thank you for this opportunity to appear today before the u s helsinki commission to discuss the plight of iraqi refugees and what the u s is doing to meet their needs and to alleviate the impact on neighboring countries the displacement of roughly two million iraqis in the region and up to two point seven million internally represents a major humanitarian crisis and challenge to the united states and to the international community the administration is responding to the challenge and three principle ways first by endeavoring to create the conditions of peace security and stability inside iraq that will enable the refugees eventually to go home in this sense the security and the humanitarian tasks we face are not alternatives but instead are inextricably linked to each other second by resettling into in the united states significant numbers of the most vulnerable iraqi refugees who cannot go home third by ensuring that the international community is providing the assistance necessary to support and sustain the refugees in the region until such time as they can go home i'll tell you frankly that when secretary rice appointed me to the position of the senior coordinator for iraqi refugee issues he was not satisfied with the pace of our resettlement efforts on behalf of the most small vulnerable rockey refugees the job she gave me was to identify and overcome obstacles to our goal of resettling twelve thousand iraqis in the u s this fiscal year she believed that my appointment and that of my counterpart here today  the department of homeland security would facilitate the kind of inner agency cooperation needed to meet this goal i'm pleased to report that we have indeed work productively together to establish an increasingly robust program of homeland security circuit rights or interviews in key locations throughout the middle east that will keep pace with the referrals we've been receiving from u n h c r and that can produce twelve thousand arrivals of iraqi refugees in the u this fiscal year the foundation for this program is the capacity of our overseas processing entities throughout the region our key processing entities did not exist in syria and jordan at the beginning of two thousand seven and it took some time last year to put the infrastructure in place but now that they are able to process efficiently in most if not all key locations and now that our homeland security colleagues have been allowed to resume interviewing iraqi refugees in syria our program can operate and is operating at a much higher volume the result of these efforts is that we moved from about twenty eight hundred interviews of iraqi refugees in the first quarter to six thousand a little more than that in the second quarter and absent any new impediments the volume will grow to eight thousand or more interviews in this third quarter of the fiscal year in other words we've built up the pipeline that's going to produce the numbers of arrivals we need to reach our goal our monthly arrival numbers now still reflect the capacity that we had to conduct interviews last year in two thousand and seven but they're moving in the right direction two forty five arrivals in december three hundred seventy five in january four hundred forty four in february seven hundred fifty one last month but they're still quite short of where we expect them to be in just a few months and some twelve thousand remains our goal and it can be achieved we can't guarantee that we can achieve it we've strengthened every link in the chain but some links remain weak notably our processing ability in syria but what i can guarantee is that we're doing everything we can to put ourselves in a position to reach our goal turning to the assistance side the united states believes that the humanitarian needs of iraq the refugees are indeed increasing as you have suggested mr chairman many of the nearly two million refugees who fled iraq were of the middle class in other words they had means and resources to one degree or another what's happening today is the inexorable depletion of those means and the consequent increase in the international requirements for supporting  sustaining and protecting the refugees in the countries of first asylum the sum total of the peals by the united nations and other international agencies assisting both internally and externally displaced iraqis for two thousand and eight is almost one hundred million dollars the united states has by far played a leading role in responding to these appeals we've already made available two hundred eighty million dollars and that halfway through the fiscal year already excuse exceeds our total of one hundred seventy one million for two thousand and seven and we anticipate making available shortly over seven million dollars in additional assistance thus the u s contribution we currently anticipate will fund one third of the international appeals well surpassing the traditional ceiling set by both ourselves and the receiving agencies other donors have already pledged or disperse fifty million dollars in assistance and we anticipate from our discussions with other governments around the world an additional one hundred sixty to one hundred seventy five million dollars will be made available by various donors and other words there is currently a shortfall in the neighborhood of around three hundred seventy five to four hundred million dollars to fund the the total international peals overcoming the four shortfall and funding the international peel's was the principal focus of a visit i recently undertook to the middle east and to europe among arab governments i found broad sympathy for the plight of iraqi refugees and recognition of the regional dimensions of the crisis and the implications for stability i believe there is in fact a willingness to contribute financially but everywhere i went there was a unanimous view that the government of iraq needed to step forward first and itself contribute substantially to meeting the needs of its citizens who have had to flee to neighboring countries i also heard similar views in europe let me make clear to the members of the commission that i expressed the agreement of the united states to the premise that it was time for a substantial commitment by the government of iraq to the various international appeals in support of iraqi refugees and displaced persons this is the strong view of the administration it has been shared with the authorities in baghdad at the same time in numerous meetings i stressed the urgency of the situation and the need for all parties with means responsibilities and interests in regional stability to respond in a significant way to meeting the needs of the refugees and the hosting countries i'd be happy to amplify on those discussions i hadn't any other questions you might have subsequently thank you mr chairman mashallah before going to you you'll note that we were joined by two of my colleagues and out appreciate in the order that they came if they would have any opening comments i would humanitarian issues all my colleague from california maxine water thank you very much chairman hasting hastings that thank you for your kindness in allowing me to join you in this important meeting today this is an extremely important issue and it has been getting as much attention as it did there's so i'd like to commend you for your leadership in this matter and all that you've been doing in fact with the help of chairman hastings i have recently sent a letter to president bush signed by eighty nine members expressing our deep concern over the plight of displaced iraqis i'd like to to thank a panel is here today ambassador foley all my have had the opportunity to meet and some of his other assignments and i'd like to thank mr shalah for being  here on this panel today i'd like to share with you some of the letter that we all signed that went to the president that letter said rarely does confronting a crisis align our moral and national security interest as closely as does providing assistance to the iraqis displaced by violence there are a few more important test there are few more important tests of our foreign policy than our leadership in response to the growing crisis confronting the displaced population of iraq the displacement crisis will get worse if ignored and we look forward to the president's support as we work to address this issue in congress i'm optimistic  that the amount of support we are receiving on the letter signifies the amount of congressional will we will have to appropriately address these problems i hope this letter to the president will continue the process that we are taking part and as we are today addressing the plight of the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons whose lives have been scattered around the middle east i also want to briefly mention some legislation that i've recently introduced which will have to give context to the questions that i will have for the witnesses let me just say that while i recognize the role that you're playing mr ambassador in all of this my bill would as for the recovery it's called the recovery and stability of iraq act and would address again the growing crisis confronting the displaced population by creating an iraqi displacement coordinator in the executive office of the president to engage u s diplomatic resources in addressing the crisis requiring the coordinator to create a long term durable strategy to address the displacement crisis requiring the coordinated to harmonize international efforts to address the crisis encouraging affected governments to support their own populations and requiring a report on the core data on the progress of the strategy and evaluation of the condition to confront in that there's this place it is clear that any solution to the problems in iraq must include an organized effort to return the displaced iraqis to a safe and stable environment this bill of course one doc and force refugees to return against their will rather it begins a long planning process necessary to prepare for eventual volunteer returned to the iraqis the creation of a high level iraqi displacement coordinator would send a strong signal that the united states is committed to working with the governments of the region to address a humanitarian crisis i thank our witnesses for being here to gate today and i certainly think i chairman and i very much look forward to working with the administration in this coming year as well as with my fellow members of congress to appropriately displacement it was just a few days ago that our guide information about the plight of many of the women and the families who are fleeing iraq into syria and maybe into jordan who have exhausted all of their resources and have turned to prostitution and women and families who have taken turns to go out to prostitute themselves in order to feed themselves also we have found that for many who have gone to syria and jordan and have come back to iraq they have found that their homes have been taken over and they have no place to live and they are on the streets so  i'm further focused on the on the proposition that we must do more again i hope that i can stay long enough to ask a few questions but i thank you for the testimony that you have to the witnesses that are here today it's rather apropos that we're having this hearing just as we had our general petraeus come in and brief members of congress about the status of iraq and we tend to often forget about the plight of the families and the i believe it's four million displaced iraqis and in particular the children and my questions will would be directed at how we are helping to define their future because they're going to be the future of that government and also what kind of treatment what kind of schooling what kind of provisions are being made i also want to commend those other host countries that have taken in willingly some of the displaced refugees and my questions are for our own government as to why we are somehow cutting back by seven percent funding in the migration refugee assistance program and the international disaster assistance program by seven percent i don't see any logic there and i would like to hear from our witnesses when we get a chance so with that i will end  minutes thank you chairman good afternoon chairman hastings members of the commission and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to testify about the work that the united states citizenship and immigration services is conducting to protect iraqi refugees through the u s refugee admissions program part of the refugee programs and humanitarian mission is to offer resettlement in the u s to especially vulnerable iraqi refugees who are unable to return to wreck due to persecution my office is responsible for interviewing refugee applicants and determining if they're eligible for resettlement in the united states i'd like to assure the commission that u s a s is committed to working with the department of state and other program partners to meet the administration's goal of admitting twelve thousand iraqi refugees to the u s this fiscal year meaning this goal is a top priority for the agency and our officers are working tirelessly to interview and adjudicate the cases necessary to reach this target that being said there are certain variables critical to the program success the do lie outside the u s government's control in a relatively short time span the past year all refugee program partners has substantially increased their capacities to process cases in the middle east building the infrastructure to support a large scale operation where previously did not exist overseas processing entities collect the basic biographical information from all applicants including educational work and military service history and interview the principal applicant regarding the refugee claim prior to opi prescreening the majority of applicants are ever used by the united nations high commissioner for refugees u s c i s role in refugee processing is to interview and adjudicate the applications for refugee settlement perform certain secure city checks apply the material support exemption authority when necessary and warranted and approve eligible cases once all necessary steps have been completed the opi then completes the resettlement out processing as you can see from this brief description there are multiple organizations involved in refugee admission process today i'd like to share with you the steps that we are taking to marshal our resources and make our part of the process as efficient as possible also share with you a few of the obstacles that the program faces us is working to maintain current and timely interview schedules in the region since the spring of two thousand and seven u s c s u s c s officers have interviewed iraqis primarily in jordan syria egypt turkey and lebanon we have teams  in the region today and are scheduled to fill team filled teams on a continuous basis in the coming months we completed more than eighty seven hundred iraqi interviews during the first half of this fiscal year u s a s is fully committed to condition and we also conditionally approved over eighty nine thousand iraqi refugees for admission since the large scale processing began over forty two hundred of those people have been admitted to the united states where working with the department state to put together a schedule of up to eight thousand interviews for iraqi refugee applicants during the third quarter given the current approval rates we estimate that achieving this volume of interviews would keep the united states on track to admit twelve thousand refugees by september thirtieth u s c i s and apartment a state share responsibility for conducting background checks on all iraqi refugee applicants security checks are rigorous and no cases finally approved until results have been received and analyzed under regular refugee processing procedures u s a s would not interview an applicant until the inner agency security checks had been completed given the desire to expedite the iraqi case load us c i s has agreed to conduct interviews while interagency name checks are still pending this is enabled numerous cases to be interviewed to move more quickly than if we'd waited for the sick he checks to clear before the interview generally u s d a s receives responses to the initiated security fingerprint checks within two to four weeks after the u s c i s interview this process runs concurrently with other d o s out processing steps such as obtaining medical clearances and sponsorship assurances because we've been able to institute this process of completing several steps concurrently on average the total processing time for iraqi cases is the difficultly less than for other refugee groups worldwide we've exercise a secretary's discretionary exemption authority to mint hundreds of iraqi refugees who otherwise would have been barred from admission under the material support related ground of inadmissibility to allow as many qualified individuals as possible to travel this fiscal year we've devoted additional resources to reviewing material support cases that may be eligible for the duress extension refugee resettlement is a complex multi step process involving a large number of players all enter called to the success of the program we cannot control all the variables in this complex process that can affect refugee admissions factors such as the number of refugees iraqi refugees coming forward to u n h c r for registration the desire of iraqi refugees to resettle in the united states the overall pace of registration in prescreening applicants failing to appear for prescreening interviews where u s c i s interviews or flight departures the continued cooperation of host governments to allow us to process in the region and other factors such as background clearances medical issues and resettlement out processing all affect the all affect the refugee process and also like to take this time to quickly update you on the progress being made to implement the refugee crisis in iraq act which is signed into law on january twenty  thousand and eight in country processing in iraq has begun u s c i s and department of state have already begun processing locally employed staff in baghdad who are at risk for persecution based on their association with the us government as well as their immediate family members we must proceed with the utmost attention to ensuring the safety and security of both the resettlement personnel and the in country refugee applicants with this in mind d h s department state embassy baghdad and i o m are seeking ways to increase capacity and efficiency u s c s is also working to exercise the expanded discretionary authority in the consolidated appropriations act of two thousand and eight were considering several groups the categories of cases as possible candidates for the expanded terrorism related inadmiss ibility exemption allowed under the new legislation while working to exercise this new authority u s c s has placed on hold denials of applications of individuals who may be considered for possible exemptions under the cia in addition u reviewing applications denied on these grounds since an act of the ca to determine if individuals should be considered for possible exercise of the discretionary ca exemption interviewing in adjudicating iraqi cases has been and will continue to be a top priority for u c i s we look forward to continuing our positive and close working relationship with our state department colleagues and other departments other partners in carrying out the humanitarian mission of admitting iraqi refugees the united states once again i thank you for allowing me the opportunity to discuss this matter and welcome any questions that you may have thank you very much i have a lot of courses and i'm going to exercise a measure that i call utilize in the past in the interest of time because what this is who came from a far i want to make sure that we get to them so i'm not going to put oral questions now but i will submit to both of you all questions and would appreciate your answering them all in a memo that we can put it on the website and then that would  twenty five million more the administration request is for thirty million which seems to be inadequate maybe that explains whether or not we could upset amount to get closer to the one hundred twenty five main and obviously the consortium of groups you know the  partners if you will really do know the situation on the on the ground like you do and i know very often your requests go through with me and what you ask for doesn't necessarily it was initially what you get and secondly investor crocker this week in his congressional testimony said that you in a c r has returned international staff to assist with the return of internally displaced persons and refugees and the question there briefly would be there's a high commissioner believe that conditions in iraq are conducive to returns or is this in satori easy or are they are they trying to get ready for rather then to begin that kind of processing and finally on the whole issue of human trafficking which i raised in my opening comment we see any any evidence whatsoever on the ground either sex trafficking or labor trafficking has has become a problem in among the displaced persons or among the refugees and again i will submit the remainder for your answer follows us includes the us representative of the n a c i'm sure he will mr coupledom will be able to address that very authoritatively but we in some sense have been collaborating with not to promote returns or encourage returns at this stage when conditions probably don't warrant that that we believe it's a fundamental principle that any returns have to be voluntary have to be made by the refugees themselves based on their sense of when it is indeed safe and ready for them to go back but what is important is that the ground ground be prepared to enable really the bulk of these two million people to go home and that certainly first and foremost involves creating the security environment but it also involves creating the governance structure the infrastructure the resources the policy the legislation everything that will take so that when people go back they can be integrated they can have housing they can have livelihoods they can live in peace and and safety so that's exactly what we're supporting u n a c r to do and they will be conducting that assessment and assisting the government of iraq we believe in the in the weeks to come your first question about the assistance levels as i described in my opening remarks we know what the basic  needs are for for two thousand and eight as as i said these needs are increasing this is a moving picture because as i think all of you have have noted the refugees themselves are running out of resources the total as we understand it of the different disparate international peals is about eight hundred ninety million dollars so so that in fact is as our target now the u s has already contributed substantially  we have made available two hundred eight million we have another seventy million or so already appropriated that will be announced shortly so that gets us to about one third of that total and we believe that traditionally we are we are normally well under that percentage if you take for example the u n h c r regional appeal which is two hundred sixty one million dollars we've already pledged we've already made available ninety five million which is thirty seven percent of that total there are international agencies that are not comfortable with one country crowding out others if you will so as i was telling it in my opening statement if you add what has been pledged or dispersed by other donors if you add what we know from our diplomatic conversations with other governments what is likely to be given we figure we're short in the neighborhood of four hundred million dollars so the question is how do how how is that going to be funded i would say in answer to your question the bottom line is it must be funded but we believe that the u s has contributed substantially and that is now a diplomatic challenge for us to exercise the arts of persuasion and to bring others into the equation others who have means resources interests  the regional stability that really sit stake in this crisis now i mentioned that i was on a journey in recent weeks to to promote contributions to the international peals and as i said in my remarks a refrain a resounding refrain everywhere i went was that the government of iraq needs to step forward for two reasons first because these are iraqi citizens who are in need secondly because the government of iraq has resources it would be different if it didn't have resources but we i heard this message especially in the middle east that others are willing to contribute what they want to see the government of iraq step forward in a significant and a substantial way so that really is going to be i think our top priority going forward but at the same time not to neglect what we see as the potential for important contributions elsewhere including among the will to do arab states and as i said i i felt that they are willing to contribute last year the united arab emirates did provide ten million dollars to the u n h c r so there is a precedent i learned when i was in qatar that there already is a significant educational initiative under way that a private foundation is undertaking in syria so i think that we should not preempt others and i think the american taxpayers would not want to preempt others from doing their part when i was in europe  received a somewhat nuanced response certainly our european friends have contributed i would say significantly in previous years we hope they contribute significantly this year but frankly we're looking for for more than that given the increasing needs that we all agree we see given given the serious implications of not meeting those needs and yet i was somewhat surprised that in some meetings in some instances in europe i found i wouldn't say skepticism but a desire to be convinced that the picture that we see of a and increasingly dire situation is indeed the case and it was stated to me and more than one meeting that different european donors are looking to u n h c r to substantiate empirically the data of concerning the vulnerable population now i made it abundantly clear that the united states has the highest confidence in u n h c r and in its assessments of the vulnerability that you have stated and that we  perceive this well but i'm not pessimistic i believe that actually i heard an opening that if whatever concerns or questions were that were raised are addressed then we would hope that that will lead to indeed substantial increases in assistance so i would sum up by saying that our target is to see the international appeal fully funded we have done a considerable part part are now in the business of urging others to do their part so i would say this is something that we need to watch i think secretary rice and senate testimony indicated yesterday we are watching this and we do have a supplemental request indicated that's there but we'll continue to watch it and as she said we won't be shy to make a different assessment if we see that by virtue of our efforts that there is a remaining shortfall finally your question i think i alluded to about human trafficking i don't have precise statistics but we certainly have heard anecdotally that there are extremely worrying instances of different kinds of social ills developing you mentioned prostitution human trafficking human smuggling for example the i think our next panel especially our our guest your guest from from sweden will be able to speak to that but our understanding is that to some degree this this different kinds of of of noxious reflections of the increasing needs of the population there's no doubt about doubt about that and that's where the trend lines are going and that's why we have to meet our responsibilities thank you in these countries that they have migrated to i think there's a one hundred fifty one convention that mandate that the refugees be able to work my question is will also include questions about children and their education and the health services that are supposedly available to families that may not be available the questions that i will be submitting are questions again about the right to work about education about health care and basically about the plight of these refugees inside other countries and i lack of enforcement to see to it that their basic rights are are met and that they have an opportunity to have a decent quality of living i won't be able to stay for the rest of the hearing unfortunately i've got to get a plane if american airlines is not gam to mine but i do will submit those questions in writing and submit my questions but just in closing i wanted to ask both of you this week earlier senator kennedy and biden called on president bush to create a white house position overseeing policy on refugees and persons who have been displaced iraq could you give me a response very quickly for both of you not for me personally to judge the african c of our efforts but i would say though that indeed on the resettlement side bringing significant numbers of iraqis to the u s which was slow and which was criticized is turning around and you are going to see in the coming months especially in the late spring in the summer tremendous numbers of iraqi refugees arriving in the united states so the question i think is more applicable on the assistance side which we're mostly discussing today and they're i i think it's fair to say that traditionally it is the responsibility of the department of state to to lead our international diplomatic efforts and that's that's what we're doing just just i said return from a trip to the middle east and to europe to try to mobilize support so that we meet these international peals and i feel confident that we can succeed we have a persuading job to do but i track i don't know that i have much to add to what the ambassador just said other than in terms of the resettlement i agree with everything that that he mentioned we've got the infrastructure in place now to actually move large numbers of cases we added refugee corps officers to our refugee corps this year i anticipate adding some more next year and we're meeting the requirements the requests that we're getting for circuit rights and for interviews and we're keeping up with what is being prepared for us to interview so i think we will i think we are on target to meet the twelve thousand  his being here not so much for questions i know that he has limited time he's already informed us that he has another engagement but he took all of the time to be with us and i'd like to hear any remarks  might have at this time sherman our thank you for allowing me to join you today and to discuss the manager in crisis in iraq and i want to thank to my good friend mr smith share a policy i want you know that i look forward to working with you in the future and we'll look forward to continuing our efforts towards both legislative resolution of the questions and also seeing to it that the programs that we have in this area for proper funding of our humanitarian programs to assist iraqi right to refugees in this terrible crisis will have the kind of success that you and i and my leadership in this matter and like my colleagues up here i look forward to working with you here i want to especially welcome and to thank my friend ole sala who joins us today from your bird and where he is a leader in access a great organization which does enormous good for the people of their board arab americans and others in almost every area of human activity i've watched the organization grow from a small community center serving a small arab american population ever to one of the largest providers of economic and social services to people of all backgrounds there but otherwise in the state of michigan as you know mr chairman my hometown has one of the largest and most vibrant american communities in the country there's some argument about whether we have more than others but we think we have more but we also have the best and there are some of our finest people in durban and all through the southeast corner of michigan and the don rivers and in dearborn also there are tens of thousands of iraqi these men who came to this country after the first gulf war it is safe to assume that many of the tens of thousands of these refugees will be joined we hope by others who will be coming to this country in coming years and that those who will arrive in southeast michigan will find not only access but other organizations of similar quality and concern moving forward towards helping them with medical treatment mental health services and my appreciation for his leadership and observe that earlier this year my good friend chairman hastings and i sent a letter to secretary rice as you remember vice chairman and she heard a number of questions about united states policy towards iraq refugees and i d p s in the response we received from the state department it stated that the long term objective for recchi refugees at i t t i d p s is a safe and voluntary return something which i'm sure most of them look with a great favor upon however we know that for many of the most vulnerable iraqis including religious minorities safe return will never be possible or at least will be hideously dangerous my question to you then mishra bester is what is the state department doing to ensure that those who have been who have been chosen for resettlement are from the most vulnerable populations eleven separate criteria upon which to determine referrals determine who among the large refugee population is indeed extremely vulnerable and needing re solution in a third country in many instances the united states so there are as i said eleven criteria or categories including victims of torture and violence and and female headed households  and iraqis associated with the coalition who are targeted for that there is also a category for religious minorities and other minorities who may be targeted so we take these referrals and and that's the basis really of most of our of our adjudications and admissions and apart from that we have in december  we have reached out to iraqi immigrants or citizens in the u s who have filed immigrant petitions on behalf of relatives in iraq and we've granted direct access in other words they don't need you in a c r referrals for iraqis in that category it so happens that when congress passed the rocky refugee crisis a act of two thousand and seven it was an act in created a special category for direct access to the u s refugee admissions program for iraqis who worked with the u s were associated with us but also for four minorities and religious minorities who had relatives in the united states so we kind of anticipated that by a few months by offering direct access to any iraqis who had a lot of sin in the u s so we've  and i'd like to echo not only your concern on this matter but that of of literally thousands of americans are iraqi americans which just ordinary citizens that i'm troubled program has not been moving forward as fast as we would like not only are we not putting enough money into it but that i have the apprehension that the money is not be expect fast enough to accomplish our purpose and i her constant concerns from my constituents about those should recognize who have gone to jordan or to syria and to the misfortunes that are befalling the families who have done this and i'm even hearing questions of women who are very unfortunate to prostitution to support their families this tells me that it is of urgent need that we should move with great vigor to address the problems particularly of those who are in syria and jordan too so that this kind of situation not of change any further can you give us a comment on that please mr master yes i missed chairman in some respects i spoke to that earlier in the hearing but i think it certainly bears repeating that  i fully share our sense of urgency and concern we see this as a as an evolving situation in terms of the needs of the refugees evolving in an alarming direction this is not a static picture the numbers of refugees actually are not increasing because largely it's no longer possible for iraq is to try to get access into neighboring countries so that is somewhat static number itself but the number of those falling into the needy category the increased increasing needs themselves i think is something that that that we don't dispute on the contrary  we see an evolving alarming picture and therefore it underscores the urgency that you that you that you note i share it completely we need to fund these international peals  you arrived i talked about what the u s is doing the significant funding we're providing we have shortfall and we need to get it funded and we need to get it funded now i've just returned from  a trip and this is not the end by any means of u s diplomacy in this regard it's the beginning and you can expect it different and higher levels visa vi other partners with means  interests in this region so we're going to do everything we can to get urgently the international people funded so that the needs of this population are met thank you sure thank you for your courage thank you very much you thanks servant i got it close to correct and again i apologize to you fond of saying the staff gets tired of hearing me say it is hard to apologize for working but so help me all the time constraints have been extraordinary in these last two days and i'm deeply appreciative of your patience in that regard all let's begin and i ask you all to submit your full statement thank you very much chairman has things and other members of congress i'm very grateful for the opportunity you gave the office of the high commission for refugees to bring to your attention how we assess the iraqi situation how it has registered to come from baghdad and a population that had relocated itself in his island also in an urban context there are no iraqi refugee camps most of the refugees have entered neighboring countries legally  governments but by other entities in what they feel is the incapacity of their government to protect them but not persecution by the government and i think this is important because it certainly should facilitate discussion with iraqi government in bringing their interest in bringing out so cornell to talk to refugees and eventually solutions and the last aspect of this crisis that has really stunned us is the very high percentage of you duckie refugees who have been heavy traumatized by their experience people are not fleeing because they heard a bomb or because they fear violence they feel in the overwhelming majority because they have been direct victims of bomb beings of shootings of abductions of torture or they have witnessed seat among their very immediate relatives a very high proportion if we compare with our experience with other refugee populations design in country essentially jordan lebanon and syria but also turkey and egypt have responded i think given the numbers essentially in a very positive manners it's important to note that entitle to a particular status but the high commission in his recent visits to the region was satisfied that in general he found that over the last year what we call the protection space for iraqi refugees has definitely improved as you know stable in neighboring countries the impact in neighboring countries has been of two kinds one has been an impact on the cost of living particularly in the rental of low scale apartments which refugees are seeking to house themselves and a tremendous impact on services in particular education and health and recently we were very pleased that most jordan and syria have granted access to their schooling system to increasing population of the iraqi population and their savings are obviously dwindling many still receives remittances from iraq it's one of the odd refugee crises where people had to flee because of traits but they survive because some of their relatives n early last year when our funding became more forthcoming and we could spread our presence in the region to boost certainly our registration efforts and we have so far registered a little over two hundred fifty thousand refugees in these different countries the purpose of registration is to assess their needs better i repeat these people in an urban environment is difficult to know where they are and if they come to you and and identify themselves it helps us to identify the degree of vulnerability and what sort of answer we should give to these were an herbalist he it allows us to give them document which we hope will increasingly offer some protection in their relation with the all four of these of these countries and it allows us to determine what sort of assistance we need whether it's in food non food items or for the most vulnerable as far we have submitted for resettlement to the u s and other countries about twelve percent of the whole number that we have registered resettlement is important not only because it addresses the most vulnerable but also because it is a demonstration of burden sharing to the country source hosting these large numbers and the second aspect we try to respond to the crises is support these governments in boosting to a certain extent their capacity in the health and humanitarian channel is going to be limited and bilateral aid is required of the more development nature to help these countries we do expect the needs of the population to increase as time passes not because the numbers are increasing but because they're coping mechanisms are going down because of basically the drying up of their of their savings and the increase of the of the cost of living in this country so we expect that as we keep on registering and we estimate now that we probably will be to register up to five hundred thousand people by the end of this year that's doubling the numbers we have now that we find an increasing number of people who do need assistance and this is certainly a reason to keep on boosting our presence and supporting these countries finally yes we are engaged in trying to look at what the requirements for return will be because it's obvious that for the majority of the population the long term solution would be to return to iraq and this is why we are now establishing representation to iraq which initially was made in amman back into baghdad so we can begin discussions with the government with this is going to be a long discussion to establish all the prerequisites for a return and i'll be happy to answer any question might have been the same regard thank you very much thank you i know that we've been joined slightly more than eighty thousand inhabitants i'm here today as the representative from a small country on the northern edge of the european union but i can say with boat pride and disappointment that when it comes to refugees i come from a great nation the united states is the country in the western world that accepts the largest number of refugees directly or dare after comes to eden and little town alone receives more iraqi refugees than united states and canada together we we did not start the war in iraq however healing i met have relatives left in iraq when i ask these children what they wanted to be when they are older they brightened up and competed with one another to tell me run some wanted to become an artist american companies looking to set up businesses or expand in europe are most welcome to us is my hometown i mean are all of the rest of us ambition and willing to make make new lives for themselves many of those who come to our town are well educated and motivated to start a new life in a new country we need need immigrants if we are to manage the demographics face despite the fact that we need immigrants so to tell you has become a town that must now say stop stop stop do not miss understand me we will from war and i know there is no time to lose thank you for your attention mr mayor with your permission of when we transcribe  poignant fashion you have put forward the sum total of why we have this important hearing today and i just as one member of congress of what i said that your country and you and thank you mr chairman and members of the commission the purpose of our testimony today is to assist you in your comprehensive review of the iraqi refugee crisis by sharing our experiences and our strategies that access that we've employed to assist iraqi and other refugees transition into the american society access of the arab community center for economic and social services has been around for thirty seven years and i'm going to lea german dingell's comments to serve as a statement of the efficacy of our services access our trademark of our services is the cultural sensitivity and the coordinated manner in which we have wraparound or holistic services we have a one stop shop providing a seamless point of entry and a unified needs assessment for all persons who seek services in our institution that's even more true when we're dealing with refugees we've heard about the huge number of refugees created by the two thousand and three iraqi war and i won't go over those statistics again but i think it's significant to note eight and this year it's been two thousand six hundred twenty seven i was heartened to hear the testimony of they actually hope to meet the target of twelve thousand for this year but again this is totally inadequate to address the needs of this needy part the elation a significant number of the refugees who do make it to america will end up in southeast michigan and just as an aside maryland go you know we're actually looking to you in southeast michigan for europe to be investing and building businesses and our end of the community we're suffering a little from that area ourselves but the population that will end up in southeast michigan will be as a result of both primary and secondary refugee placement primary are those who are get who are originally settled in our area but what we've learned from our experience in the one nine hundred ninety one gulf war is that we will have a substantial increase in actually secondary resettlement following the ninety one gulf war three thousand iraqi refugees resettled in southeast michigan within one year of that settlement that population grew to fourteen thousand as a result of secondary resettlement secondary resettlement results because refugees are placed with good agencies but they're placed in st paul minnesota and lincoln nebraska and they find themselves in a totally culturally vacuumed environment as congressman dingell indicated southeast michigan metro detroit is recognized as the heart of the arab american community where we have the highest concentration of arab american first second and third generation outside the middle east and as a result of our having a stablished institutions both cultural political and economic once refugees here of that they learn of it quickly and then they are drawn to our area refugees present a distinct set of service needs and problems in resettlement first and foremost is that these persons are not voluntary immigrants so while they present with many of the same needs that regular immigrant present they also have substantially more severe needs for services through a contract with the michigan department of human services access is designated as the provider of mandatory medical screening for all primary refugees arriving in southeast michigan in a recent screening of five hundred fifty four recent refugee arrivals we no substantial incidence of health problems significantly larger than that of the general immigrant population similarly refugees in general suffer more for mental health issues than the general immigrant population and i r did a report in january of this year where the interviewed five hundred and some iraqi refugees representing some three thousand different family individuals and they reported a one hundred percent finding of some significant experience of trauma that one in five of iraqi refugees are registered with the u n as classified as victims of torture and or violence a testimony from a client of access whose works with receives assistance from our psychosocial rehabilitation center for the victims of torture one of five such standers recognized by the un in the united states my name is in two sir nasser and i'm a thirty four year old female refugee from iraq i came to united states in two thousand and seven with my three children in the hopes of finding a better life for us i was subjected to an enormous amount of suffering in iraq including the witnessing of the death of my husband after arriving in the united states i'm faced with many hours circles which i did not expect living cause financials barely cover my mind sets of these so and so i have few family members in the united states my support system is extremely lacking i have searched for a job but due to the few skills which i have my lack of education language and other things i am unsuccessful i struggle on a day to day basis to keep my family alive and this is added to my grief and to my stress i know that i am not alone and that there are many others who suffered the same if not worse i am grateful for the united states  providing me safety but i hope that through my testimony someone will acknowledge that more assistance is urgently needed for refugees coming to this country as with all new comers those who have emigrated to the united states from the arab world come with dreams and hopes of stablish ing a better life for themselves their families and their future generations unfortunately this is a much more daunting task than any of them had anticipated stops unless you're a family and then this is a result of the personal responsibility and work reconciliation act of ninety six it made available for refugee families a extension or a seven year limit for the receipt of social services s s i and related benefits the seven year period was intended to allow these individuals to have a sufficient opportunity to become u citizens and then when they would be able to retain their and their eligibility however many if not most are unable to complete the requirements for citizenship within the seven year period it's anticipated that by the year two thousand and ten there will be an additional forty eight thousand refugees who have lost their eligibility for supplemental security income benefits now ideally refugees would learn english pass the citizenship examination  become u s citizens but for a traumatized population facing the multiple barriers especially the limited english language proficiency chronic illness mental impairments the path to citizenship is just fraught with too many obstacles in their way for those that are able bodied incapable of applying for citizenship the current backlog in processing by u s c i s and the f b i has resulted in even that path to citizenship not being able to be accomplished within the seven year period the story of us and another iraqi refugee who resettled in dearborn in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight he came to the to access and we initially help him with his refugee assistance application with the department of human services that was valid for eight months and we assisted him with job training him job placement but the job placement lasted for two months because husband suffered from a severe psychiatric schizo phrenic disorder and he was unable to maintain his employment with then we were able to get him on to the s rolls and we were able to advocate for him and then when he became eligible to become a citizen in two thousand and four we did his citizenship application but we could apply for a waiver of his english language requirement because  documented medical condition which prevented him from earning or learning the english language but that's an exception but even with all of that the delays in the background and security checks for the citizenship allocation required for years from the violin of his application and tele was ultimately approved during this four year period he lost his s s i benefits and there were no benefits of vailable for him there was no safety net and tele actually became a u s citizen similarly there are in addition to the employment or and health and mental health issues employment is a substantial issue if someone's going to be integrated into the american society in the in the society in which they are living but the traditional employment and training programs are not equipped to respond to the refugee population the state and federal programs are generally not bilingual and the eligibility requirements and the benchmarks for success make it adverse or preclude actually it refugees being welcomed into these job training programs because they get benchmark by how many people have they trained how many people have they placed and these are people that lack any great skills in terms of employability so the traditional programs don't like refugees as to to come into the job training programs access we believe is unique in our ability to provide culturally sensitive services for these refugees but for those who do not end up in southeast michigan it is unlikely that they will be able to receive the broad variety of welfare assistance and program assistance that we're able to provide in our agency  agency is a model i believe for the providing of affective human and social services and as congressman dingell indicated we do this not just for the arab american population but for the total population in the southeast michigan but especially with our refugee applicants and they're not all from iraq we have a model of having an individual case my manager for each refugee family that case manager ensure that all of the programs that are available through our organization or that might be available and in the other state or local agency are made available to those members  we believe are unique we believe that it is only through such aggressive treatment and services that refugee population are going to have any chance of integrating  engaged in the society which they will now be living in for the rest of their lives and there is just a paucity of resources available nationally or locally to meet the demands that even the limited number of iraqi refugees being admitted to the united states have thank you very much we'll begin our questioning with mr smith and i think you all heard that signifies that on the house side we're going to be doing some voting optimism added i'm sure it's not to the point where you're so and you can tell us doing much processing in and of itself but i would ask you if you could tell us whether about the conditions on the ground you know one of the things that general ptrace emphasize was that there are now some ninety one thousand what they're calling sons of iraq who now acting out of self interest and self in light and light and self interest who now understand that al qaeda and other militants don't mean them well they are they are lethal threat to their families and to their communities are now joining the growing number of the police battalions as well as the military battalions in acting in a way that you would expect a security force to do so and i wonder if you might shed some light as to whether or not that's creating some of the space that we're all hoping for for that return secondly along the same lines i mean this surge was and is controversial i haven't to have supported it nobody likes the fact that our military men and women are deployed there the sooner they get home the better from all of our points of view because we have lost so many lives but it seems to me that if the surge has created a space that will allow repatriation and to help and to assist the internally displaced that needs to be said we need to know whether or not that's accurate and whether or not reality perception or mission is one the mental health side and i appreciate the good work units your access mrs holly thank you for your statement struck by your comment that one hundred percent of those interviewed experienced at least one traumatic event through the torture victims real effect and we have a reauthorization now that is pending in the senate has been pending for months is being held up by one particular senator and i have talked to him several times asking him to lift his hold  we need to provide i believe the additional resources that legislation would push us towards both in terms of the un voluntary fund and the torture victim relief centers here in the united states and abroad so your point is well taken and i will talk to him about what you've told us today what we need to push to get that out as soon as possible finally two things on trafficking what are you saying you know particularly on the ground with regard to trafficking in country in iraq as well as outside and they called and called a call day in christians i'll be hearing on on their plight and their very unique circumstances that they suffer in iraq and i think disproportionately to their number they make up the refugee population obviously in raw numbers they don't but maybe you could speak to that issue as well as to whether or not it's because many of those individuals have been killed or kidnapped and suffer immensely and i don't think many of and each agency has to find out how many get so we're not talking about a major return of plenty of stuff we're just talking about putting a representative in some other immediate colleagues to try to begin the discussion government or what  prerequisites for return obviously any news that security's improving he's a new and goes in the right direction and every news that there are some attempts at reconciliation is of course news that beginning and i think we need much more reassurance that it's a very lasting crosses that takes place before we can advocate for return other issues will have to be looked at for return this is a population which is essentially urban they all had houses and flats if you look at the way baghdad is distributed between different groups now as compared to what it was before the war it is a complete redistribution of religious groups in the different neighborhoods we will have to know what the government intends to do in terms of compensation for or restitution for people who've lost their property all these things all the system need to be established before we can really advocate that people can go back and finally i would say there is still some work to do with different ministries in the iraqi government all of whom do not have exactly the same views on the refugees and i think there is a need to bring sort of consensus between the different ministries to have a national policy on how we are going to address returns so it is in these challenges in that we are restored wishing our presence in  iraq i think it's to say we have to start looking at how to prepare for return it's going to be a complicated process and let us not forget that as we discuss the return of the perhaps two million people who are who are outside we will also have to discuss about the return of the and i have to also take a plane ride but i do personally want to thank these witnesses in particular and and to mr lago in for in particular although you said you're not a president you indeed are a humanitarian ambassador so i want to personally congratulate you because you have shown a light on humanity by taking in your city has welcomed so many iraqis we know that you are overburdened least we see that very clearly and and i know many of us here the congress work very hard to see that we try to provide enough funding so that we can adequately process these refugees and provide the tools that are necessary but more importantly those that are going to be replaced here in the united states and to mr saliba thank you for your comments and the type of wrap around services that you currently provide to arab refugees i hope that we can work with you and other parts of the country where we have large segments of arab populations for example in southern california in orange county which i'm very familiar with and know that we need to provide essential tools so that our c b o s that are that are also simular to n g o s provide assistance on the ground in a multicultural setting that is for miliard to these refugees we did this when we had refugees from vietnam we should be able to do it for the iraqis that are that will be coming here as well so with that it's more of a comment and i just want to personally thank you and i want to thank our chairman mr alcee hastings for having this a very very important hearing and i look forward to working with all of you thank you thank you i know my house members have to go for a vote but if you would like to respond to the trafficking issue the status of trafficking in i their living conditions drop dramatically this is an issue that you do not address through the registration people will not come forward with stories you have to do a lot of outreach which we are trying to do right now  by working with refugee workers who know their communities and try to convince slowly that we have something to offer we have opened a series of safe houses for women that we can extract from that some don't want sometimes these are reluctant to have working on that i am less aware of what are the networks of trafficking from iraq into neighboring countries or even furder wait we know it probably happens but we don't have information of how they work let me  first make a comment and then i will have a couple questions this morning in the senate foreign relations committee that i serve one we took up the long term relationship between the united states and iraq the administration's in the process of negotiating a strategic framework agreement without the consent of the congress i expressed at that time my deep opposition to that plan by the ministration i think it's kind of that they will enter into an agreement that's contrary to the majority members of the united states congress and only that from a parson point of view is the numbers are opposed to this ministration strategies in iraq and to the sentiment of the american people one of my difficulties in judging with the administration is doing is that we need to have an honest assessment of what's happening on the ground and that's why i was particularly pleased that the helsinki commission is holding this hearing to get a better assessment of what's happening in regards to the displaced individuals within iraq and in the neighboring countries what's happening to the refugees so that we can better understand how our rock will look in the future the testimony here indicates that the united nations has been able to register about two hundred sixty thousand refugees we know that they're close to five million iraqis that are displaced within iraq and neighboring countries and throughout the world so that's a small fraction of the total number of people who have been impacted we clearly want to resettle i agree with your testimonies that resettlement is by far the best policy but according to the united nations high commissioner in the reports that i've seen i'm going to ask shortly mr gubb onan whether this is accurate or not the conditions along the ground do not warrant the resettlement of the vas numbers within iraq and a response to mr smith's comment quoting investor crocker he quoted him baster crocker accurately but it's my understanding that the u n mission is not to assist in resettlement within iraq but to assess the conditions as to whether it's feasible and what is necessary in order to resettle so i'm not sure that was an accurate portrayal by  investor crocker we desperately are going to need humanitarian programs if it's not safe for resettlement within iraq if there are not enough country at the surrounding countries cannot and should not be able to  permanently housed the refugees at the international community is not prepared to accept the grass vast numbers of humanitarian programs both within him and outside of iraq are going to be necessary we also need to assist in resettlement in other countries and they are legal i want to thank you particularly for your extraordinary efforts and you put us all to shame other countries to shame with if your small city can handle that many refugees  more than canada than the united states i think that speaks volumes as to what we should be doing here in the united states we have iraqis that assisted the united states that must leave iraq because they're helping us and we're not providing the means for them to resettle i've joined my colleagues in requesting sixty eight million dollars during this appropriation process to deal with iraqis with special immigrant visas those help the united states in order to try to start making some progress in this area so mr longdon let me just start with you if i might see whether you agree as to her mr smith they asked this question but i want to try to get a more direct and focused answer nations high commissioner for refugees can you tell us what their current assessment is in regards to the safety within iraq for a significant number of refugees safely returning to their communities in a safe resettlement plan the interviews we made those refugees who returned in december and who were given some incentives by the iraqi government to return we found that a large majority had returned because they had depleted their resources as i knew countries not because they thought security was better and a large proportion of them where eventually this place was in iraq they could not go back to their home so that's already indicates that for a small number who went i mean the government is talking about perhaps thirty thousand  had phones they call back home all the time they know the conditions back in their country perhaps better than we do and i think we have to take their word for that what we do plan to do is eat our government to set what are the preconditions to start talking about returns and i think this will be long discussion i think it will have to address lots of the shoes and it's not the sexy wrong to stalk knob it's starting to discuss return by no means in the mind of the high commissioner is equivalent to say i think it's time to return it's a it's a different proposal it's going to be a complex plan of repatriation and we need to start looking at what it means and discuss with our partners i appreciate that answer the administration's own testimony indicated that one of the reasons not the sole reason but one of the reasons according to the administration that there is less violence in baghdad is that the neighborhoods have been more ethnically cleansed and therefore those who have been displaced from certain neighborhoods in baghdad it would not be safe for them to return to their former neighborhoods that issue has not yet at all been addressed by the iraqi government and is sort of being pushed aside  where i think ultimately we're going to pay attention to that but at this moment with security still according to the administration being so fragile and certainly reversible there is no plan by the iraqi government to facilitate the return of large numbers of refugees within baghdad and i would suggest probably within the entire country mr mayor i go and let me just come back to you for a moment if i might again i had a chance to meet with you and i really do a chance to understand a little bit more about what you have to go through as a mayor with such a large number of new residents can you just share with us the impact that has on the infrastructure on your schools on your housing and how you're dealing with that from the point of view of a mayor it's no uncommon for children in our schools that they cry when it's time for book asian i was surprised when i first heard that that imagined difficult hous too is the shortage of accommodation a lot of people are living in the same flat so then one big problem now the problem is for for the children  how how is this being received by the greater population of your city is there resentment with the large number of immigrants have they integrated well with into the of people coming from abroad know or have the realities from abroad so so it's me i used to meet people in that situation but of course when it's coming a lot of people in a short time think the big problem is the concentration to some areas and some cities it's not a problem for sweden to take care of for about twenty or thirty thousand refugees every era but we have a natural problem that just the prime example of how a community can accept the significant number of immigrants and yet it does not impose insurmountable obstacles and if we at a better sharing better responsibility for more countries that are capable of accepting refugees for resettlement particularly where these refugees would prefer to go to some of these countries that there is a there is an international responsibility here is not being met i could also talk about the amount of tearing assistance i know the united states is paying probably little bit more than its traditional share but the need for humanitarian assistance is this dramatic and we have not yet seen the international community had me interested as to how you see the children who have come to the united states how well they have been able to adjust to the united states whether there's been any special problems and whether government policies here could help make it easier for young people through our schools or through other programs to adjust to the united states  thank you mr chairman the children have suffered generally the first arrival the biggest problem that they're facing is obviously they're also traumatized being dislocated the young age they've been interrupted in from their educational system for substantial periods of time and then they're coming to the united states and they are behind in their educational training in their native language they don't have english language skills and there has been an increasing trend to do away with the to do for doing funding for and this is obviously placing a great challenge i think what draws the refugee population to michigan is that they are able to have this sort of extended family there is a large concentration of her expecting and iraqis in our community and so they're able to have at least some feeling of an extended family support that perhaps in maryland go city they don't have this that same support but that doesn't mean that their transition into the american society isn't fraught with all of the difficulties that marilyn was a done a find in the children that he's visited with well let me thank you for that and again i think all three of you for your real leadership the has played a extraordinary role as starkly dealing with refugees and certainly being challenged in iraq and all three of you you presented i think information that's extremely important this is a very important part not just of the amount of terri an agenda internationally which it is but stability within that region of the world if we're going to be able to bring about the type of middle east that we think is important for us interests of for the international community then we certainly need to deal with five million people today or they're living in a different location they did just a few years ago many of which are living under extremely difficult circumstances a ones which should not be maintained the way it is today and need to be give them hope for their future i think this is this hearing has provided us in congress with a better understanding of the issue i thank you all for making the effort to testify before us and with that the commission will stand