The Cartagena Declaration, as many of you probably know, is a set of conclusions and recommendations adopted at a 1984 colloquium on refugee protection in Central America, Mexico, and Panama. In particular, the Colloquium believes it especially important that such dissemination should be undertaken with the valuable cooperation of the appropriate universities and centers of higher education. So, our hemispheric colleagues would heartily approve of our gathering here these few days to engage in a constructive dialogue on refugee and migration issues. Humanitarian issues, and particularly those involving the movement of large groups of people, are front and center on the foreign policy agenda. Hardly a day goes by but that the Washington papers, at least, run front-page stories on the issues that my Bureau is addressing.
Refugees are a key element in American foreign policy.
Its primary responsibility is to develop and implement U.S. policy on international population, refugee, and migration matters, and to advance U.S. humanitarian principles by providing assistance to victims of persecution and civil strife. Our policy is to ensure the protection and care of refugees until they can be repatriated safely. This is the preferred solution for most persons in any refugee situation. In some cases, local integration may be possible. This year, we expect to resettle about 80,000 refugees from many different countries.