Refugees International Mourns the Death of Dith Pran

Dith Pran, a survivor and witness to the horrors of genocide in Cambodia, died this weekend succumbing to cancer. Refugees International joins his family, many friends and colleagues in mourning his passing.

Refugees International was honored and privileged to have Dith Pran serve for many years as a member of our Board of Directors. We witnessed first hand his courage, generosity and the tenaciousness with which he carried on a personal and public crusade to expose the evils of genocide, to aid its victims and to bring to justice those responsible for the “killing fields of Cambodia.”

Dith Pran, as a survivor of the brutal regime of the Khmer Rouge, knew the toll that years of persecution, deprivation and separation from family and friends played on one’s life and one’s country.

In 1979, Mr. Dith fled Cambodia into Thailand as the Vietnamese drove out Pol Pot. Due to his work and friendship with New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg, the US Refugee Program headed by Lionel Rosenblatt, expedited his resettlement to the U.S. where he was reunited with his family and his former colleagues. Later, Lionel Rosenblatt would go on to head Refugees International.

Mr. Dith served as an advisor on the filming of The Killing Fields. The film depicted his incredible escape from Khmer Rouge controlled Cambodia and won an Academy Award. He became friends with the stars of the film – including Sam Waterston, who played Schanberg, and Haing Nor, who played Mr. Dith. At a benefit screening of the film in Boston, Susan Goodwillie-Stedman, Refugees International’s Executive Director at the time, convinced both Mr. Dith and Sam Waterston to attend RI’s next board meeting.

He joined Refugees International’s board in the mid-1980s and urged us to increase efforts to publicize the suffering of victims of war and repression. Dith understood the important work that needed to be done when a conflict ended and war-torn societies, like his beloved Cambodia, needed international assistance to rebuild. For years he advocated for aid to Cambodian refugees and for opportunities for them to rebuild their lives.

Mr. Dith advocated for a peace agreement that would permit Cambodian refugees to return home and lobbied Congress and succeeding administrations. He urged the creation of an international tribunal for Cambodia, the work of which is now underway. His dedication and quiet determination helped inspire many others around the world to realize that each of us can and should contribute to the work for justice and rebuilding.

Through his vision and his life as a tireless witness to the evils of genocide, Mr. Dith was open to every opportunity to tell his story, and to draw attention to the work needed to prevent future genocides. With a photographer’s eye, he helped us see the world and this problem in a different light. He wanted people to understand through his life story, what good could be accomplished when people were determined and committed to working together to end injustice and oppression. His quiet dignity and his incredible personal survival story enabled Mr. Dith to reach and engage many in this struggle.

We are saddened at his passing, but we are grateful to have known him.

Burma: Lifting Constraints through Coordination

On March 20, Refugees International decided to hold an informal briefing on our recent mission to Burma for colleagues of fellow non-governmental organizations (NGOs). One of the main reasons we wanted to hold this briefing was because of the lack of information about the actual working conditions for non-governmental aid agencies and the UN inside the country. The briefing has reinforced the idea that more work needs to be done to share what’s going on inside the country.

When Refugees International was in Burma, we were surprised to see the broad range of work being done inside Burma, including basic health support in clinics around the country, feeding programs for the neediest, and NGO capacity-building programs that teach local organizations how to function more efficiently. We also saw efforts to train a new generation of civil society activists, to find ways to break the political logjam with indigenous solutions, and other, subtle political work that showed a much more vibrant civil society than Burma gets credit for.

Over the course of the talk here in Washington, we realized that many of the organizations around the table are in various stages of exploring the possibility of operating inside Burma. Some are interested in learning more about the operating environment, others have sent quick missions to examine the reality on the ground, some are moving ahead with Memoranda of Understanding with the government, and one agency has been operating in Burma for decades.

Unlike other issues within the NGO community, most if not all of the agencies around the table were relatively unaware of what others were doing. Despite the success of coordinating organizations like InterAction and informal coalitions around scores of issues, the U.S. offices of agencies working in Burma (or considering working in Burma) work in relative isolation from each other. In large part, this also reflects the isolation of actors inside of Burma, who often communicate informally, bilaterally and cautiously with each other.

Inside Burma, you don’t want to let someone know what you’re doing, because you don’t know who they’ll tell. And if your operations exceed the terms of your agreement with the government, letting others know what you’re doing could result in a curtailment of your work. Despite these obstacles, NGOs inside Burma have recently banded together to start discussing their concerns and to consider organizing a common agenda for discussions with the government.

In the US, there is a similar hesitation to speak out. Refugees International has heard from two organizations that tried to speak publicly about their work and their interest in seeing more humanitarian assistance inside Burma. They faced vehement opposition from other organizations, congressional staff, and the Administration who feel that any engagement with Burma constitutes collaboration with the enemy. Eventually, both organizations decided it was best to pursue their work quietly and drop the Washington-focused agenda.

The March 20 meeting makes us believe that mechanisms do need to be established here in the US to discuss Burma, to share information about how to best operate inside the country, and to pursue advocacy goals related to humanitarian assistance.

Amendment Restores Foreign Aid to '09 Budget

Before Congress adjourned for the Easter recess last week, an extremely important vote took place at 1:02 in the morning on the floor of the Senate. As the full Senate was considering adopting the 2009 Budget Resolution, Senators Biden and Lugar introduced a key amendment.

First, some background: In his annual Budget Request, President Bush asked for a $3.1 billion increase to the international affairs budget, but the Senate Budget Committee cut this budget by $4.1 billion. Had the Budget committee’s resolution passed without amendment, it would have set the stage for the loss of billions in critical international assistance programs in 2009. Senators Biden and Lugar therefore introduced an amendment that added $4 billion to the International Affairs budget, restoring the President’s full Budget request. The Senate passed the amendment overwhelmingly, by a vote of 73-23, demonstrating a clear commitment on the part of the Senate to our foreign aid budgets.

The international affairs account funds the extremely important humanitarian and development work that is a vital part of America’s foreign policy agenda. Our world is increasingly interconnected and we need to work together with other countries to build a better future. As people outside the U.S. gain access to their basic needs--food, water, education and decent jobs--we gain as well. This year has seen a dramatic shift in the dynamic of the foreign affairs community, as more and more senior individuals from the Defense establishment have made impassioned and repeated appeals for an increase in foreign aid spending. Defense Secretary Gates called for an increased financial commitment to foreign assistance and development programs in November, and General Anthony Zinni repeated the message this spring in Congressional testimony.

The budget resolution doesn’t represent a real money allocation, but its importance cannot be overstated. The resolution, and the amendment restoring the full funding of the Foreign Aid account, expresses clearly the will of the Congress to support overseas spending, and signals a commitment to robust funding levels of foreign assistance.

This can be attributed to an aggressive advocacy campaign by a concerted coalition of international non-governmental organizations that impressed upon Members of the House and Senate, and their staff, the vital importance of our overseas spending. It is clear that across the partisan divide, and the policy spectrum, Americans of all backgrounds have come to recognize that foreign assistance is a vital component of our foreign policy toolkit.

--Jake Kurtzer

Kenya: From Disappointment to Opportunity

The news from Kenya in the first few months of 2008 could arguably perpetuate a certain cynicism about Africa and the intractability of problems on the continent. It has deeply shaken the image of Kenya as a stable, prospering African success story. Rather than a secure base from which international organizations can launch humanitarian operations in other countries, Kenya resembles instead one of its volatile neighbors, with over 1,000 dead and more than 300,000 displaced as a result of three months of election violence.

If Kenya fails to uphold basic democratic institutions, what hope do we have for resolving crises in Sudan, Congo, or Ivory Coast?

The violence in Kenya should not make us give up in despair. Instead, it must motivate us to search for intelligent solutions, to encourage those with the means to alleviate a dangerous and desperate situation to do so, and to hold accountable the entities that should ultimately be responsible for the people affected by the crisis.

This cynicism is also harmful in that it glosses over the complexity and uniqueness of each problem. Contrary to impressions created by the media, Kenya’s story is the not the story of an economically sound, democratic island of stability gone bad. As political scientist Joel Barkan points out, “[d]eep schisms [] existed within the political elite that reflected persistent divides in Kenyan society.”

The Kikuyus and related ethnic groups, excluded from government throughout the 1980s and 1990s, have since 2002 dominated the government of Mwai Kibaki. His government helped solidify Kikuyus, prominent in the business community, as the largest, most educated, and wealthiest ethnic group in Kenya. The presidential campaign of Raila Odinga, a member of the sizeable Luo ethnic group, emphasized the need to distribute opportunity and wealth more equitably among Kenya’s 42 ethnic groups.

Experts and civil society organizations suggest that the proposed government of national unity does not signify the end of Kenya’s political crisis. Rather, it opens for discussion the creation of a democratic system – a kind of federalism – which better serves the interests of all of Kenya’s minorities. Therefore, Kenya’s leaders, with the pressure of Kenya’s churches, civil society groups, free press, and international partners, still have an opportunity to convert a source of frustration into an opportunity for political transformation and progress.

--Katherine Southwick

Iraqi Refugees: Join Kristele Younes on washingtonpost.com

Today at 2:00 pm EST Senior Advocate Kristele Younes will be hosting a chat on www.washingtonpost.com to answer questions about the millions of Iraqis who have been forced from their homes by ongoing violence in Iraq. This week marked the release of Refugees International’s latest field report assessing the situation for Iraqis in Syria, "Iraqi Refugees: Improve UN Outreach in Syria."

This week Ken Bacon also wrote a blog post for the Huffington Post, marking the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war and how the refugee crisis is continuing to affect the Middle East.

We look forward to having you join us this afternoon!

--Vanessa Parra

President’s Corner: A Tribute to Julia Taft

Julia Taft, who spent more than 30 years protecting refugees and directing responses to humanitarian emergencies, died on March 15th. Her death is a huge loss, not only to her family and friends, but to all displaced people who needed a skilled, committed political operator on their side.

Julia was only 32 years old in 1975, when President Ford asked her to direct an interagency task force to resettle Indochinese refugees in the U.S. In just seven months her task force brought 131,000 Vietnamese to the U.S., protecting them from a wave of post-war persecution.

This started Julia on a life of refugee protection. In the months before her death from cancer, she was critical of the Bush administration for its slow, reluctant resettlement of Iraqi refugees, many of whom fled death threats in their country because they had worked for U.S. forces. “No matter your view of the war, welcoming the persecuted and standing by our friends is the right thing to do,” she wrote in The Washington Post last year.

She held a number of important jobs, including the director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Assistant Secretary of State for Population Refugees and Migration and Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery at the UN Development Program.

In Julia’s case, the jobs did not make the woman, she made the jobs. She called herself an “operational person” who was interested in the mechanics of protecting refugees and delivering life-saving aid. It was her ability to bring order to chaos—plus her willingness to get on a plane, helicopter, jeep or riverboat to go almost anywhere—that enabled her to make a difference. Whether in the White House, a refugee camp, or a meeting with government and NGO officials, she knew how to get people moving.

Everybody admired her commitment and courage. She even received the USSR Supreme Soviet Award for Personal Courage in recognition of her response to the Armenian earthquake in 1988.

I first met Julia in 1994 when she was the president of InterAction, the umbrella group for international relief and development agencies. In that capacity, she had helped organize a humanitarian response to the massive migration that followed the genocide in Rwanda. She approached this and every other problem with an amazing combination of determination, humor and an impatience for slow humanitarian responses.

These were the same qualities she brought to her friendships and to raising her three children with her husband, William H. Taft IV.

People like Julia are impossible to replace, but she inspired us all to do better.

--Ken Bacon

Iraqi Refugees: Perspectives from Afar

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives’ subcommittee on the Middle East held a hearing to discuss the shortcomings of the US response to the Iraqi displacement crisis. In front of his fellow congress members, Congressman Rohrabacher from California expressed doubts as to whether the US should even try to meet Iraqi refugees’ needs. According to the congressman, the security situation has improved in Iraq, to the point that people should now be encouraged to return. The only assistance the Congressman believes the US should provide to the millions of refugees in countries like Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, is transportation back to Iraq. He also felt that more humanitarian assistance would create dependency and that the idea of paying rent generally deterred refugees from leaving camps and returning home.

There are two problems with the Congressman’s statement. First, I have visited many refugee camps in many countries, and have never found one I would like to live in, albeit rent free. My experience has been that people in these camps would generally do anything to go home or to rebuild their lives elsewhere so they can find work, provide for their families and send their children to school.

Second, the vast majority of displaced Iraqis don’t even live in camps. Inside Iraq, millions have fled for different neighborhoods or cities, where they rent apartments or stay with relatives. Millions more are refugees in Damascus, Amman, Beirut or Cairo where they have joined the ranks of the urban poor. Unable to afford decent accommodation, most now live in squalid conditions, and all wonder how long their resources will last before they are forced to return to a violent, war-torn country where even the most basic of services - electricity, clean water, healthcare - are no longer available.

After Congressman Rohrabacher concluded his statement, I started thinking about Noor, a young Shi’a hairdresser, who fled Baghdad for Syria after being threatened by islamist militias. Noor’s story broke my heart. The salon where Noor worked began to receive threats in 2003 because they were cutting women’s hair in a public place. Shortly thereafter, the salon was attacked, and Noor quit her job out of fear for her safety. She moved to another apartment, but that building was threatened because militias felt women shouldn’t live alone. She fled to Damascus soon after.

Noor had lost her parents years ago, and was now all alone in Syria. Too proud to ask for help, she didn’t even know she could get any when I met her last year, and was barely surviving in her tiny Damascus apartment. Her dignity and her kindness touched me profoundly. When I left her that day, the only thing she asked me for was to remember her, and her story.

The Congressman is also wrong that it is now safe enough for Noor and millions like her to return home. The future of Iraq is uncertain at best. A study released Tuesday showed that the US military tallied 60 attacks per day in Iraq in January alone. And violence seems to be on the rise – on the same day this report was released, deadly bombings and other attacks took place in about eight cities. People should not be forced back to Iraq under these conditions. But they should be provided the means to survive until they can return home.

Noor might be able to return to Baghdad one day. But until she does, the last thing she needs is for policy-makers sitting in their Washington office to question her reasons for staying away from the only home she ever had.

--Kristele Younes

Burma: Meeting Humanitarian Needs

We set out to Burma amidst disturbing reports of increasing humanitarian need. In a country that spends less on health care and education for its people than almost any other country in the world, this cannot come as a surprise. But the increasing economic mismanagement inside the country is also producing great hunger and need. One study we read claims that over 70% of a family's income goes just towards feeding itself.

The human suffering is real and there are real humanitarians on the ground carrying out life-saving work without collaborating with the government to do so. We were surprised to see the broad range of work being done inside Burma - from basic health support in clinics set up around the country, to feeding programs for the neediest, to NGO capacity-building programs that teach local organizations how to function more efficiently.

Burmese activists were happy to meet with us - in public - and discuss politics openly. NGOs discussed with us frankly about the challenges - and opportunities - that exist working inside the country. And, we found our hotel to be an accommodating space where we could place phone calls to NGOs from the lobby, openly announcing that we were calling from Refugees International. At no point did security stop us, question us, or even try to stop us from doing our work. It may be the rosy-hued glasses of a first visit to Burma, but talks with our colleagues on the ground reassured us that operating openly is not as much of a problem as it appears to those on the outside.

It is clear that working inside Burma does pose tremendous challenges. But, it is also clearer to us than ever that humanitarian work is greatly needed inside the country.

--Joel Charny

International Women's Day: What You Can Do

One woman interviewed on Refugees International’s latest mission to south Sudan said that, "The problem is just beginning; We need help so we can restart our lives here." Our latest report from south Sudan includes a section on the importance of enhancing the status of women throughout southern Sudan, an important step towards the recovery of Sudan as a whole. Women in southern Sudan need support to help their communities rebuild in the aftermath of 20 years of war. Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, and this gives us an opportunity to underscore the hardships faced by displaced women everywhere. Last year, Refugees International released reports on how unfair laws affect the women of Darfur and how the international community can protect women in Darfur from sexual violence in the future.

What can you do today? Urge your Senators to support the International Violence Against Women Act. This act includes important provisions that would help increase services for survivors of sexual violence and improve protection for vulnerable women and girls in conflict zones. What better way to celebrate women than by ensuring that those affected by violence and war get all of the help they need.

Send a postcard to friends and family on International Women’s Day and encourage them to support our work!

International Women's Day: The Women of Darfur

In honor of International Women's Day on March 8th, Refugees International is taking this week on our blog to focus on the stories of refugee women from around the world.

It’s amazing how quickly the situation can change in Darfur. When my colleague, Melanie Teff, and I were in Sudan at the end of last year, the majority of international organizations providing humanitarian aid in West Darfur were able to reach people in need. While all aid groups in Darfur struggle with constant access and security constraints, at the time the humanitarian organizations operating in West Darfur seemed to have fewer hassles than those working in South or North Darfur.

Now, the situation in West Darfur is dramatically different. Last month, civilian areas north of Geneina were hit by repeated aerial bombings carried out by the Government of Sudan, which claimed it was targeting rebel groups in the area. Villages were also burnt , civilians were attacked and women were raped by janjaweed militia. The bombings and militia attacks have forced tens of thousands of civilians in West Darfur to flee their homes, many crossing into neighboring Chad.

Those most affected by the continuing insecurity in Darfur are of course the most vulnerable. Two refugee women and two children who fled into Chad died on the border in late February from the cold temperatures while waiting for international assistance to reach them. Women have long borne the brunt of the conflict in Darfur, and as these images of the aftermath of the bombings in West Darfur illustrate, they continue to be deeply affected by the arbitrary acts of violence carried out against them and their families by both sides of the conflict.

Analysts say that the recent violence in West Darfur echoes the early, worst days of the Darfur conflict which began in 2003 and has displaced more than 2.5 million people. They also warn it may be a sign of more terror to come. Yet Chad, which already hosts around 240,000 refugees from the Darfur conflict, is no longer such a welcoming place for the newly displaced, the majority of whom are women and children. Chadian rebels are now also fighting against their government inside Chad. In February, the Government of Chad issued a public statement saying that any new refugees would be pushed back to Darfur. And when the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) tried to relocate the newly displaced further inside Chad so that they could be given protection and assistance, they were blocked by armed groups.

The crisis in Chad and the insecurity along the border with Darfur over the past month has had a serious impact on the humanitarian response in the eastern part of Sudan. Many international aid organizations were forced to suspend their assistance programs for refugees and internally displaced Chadians in the east, and UNHCR had to pull out their staff at one point because of the air strikes along the Darfur border. The latest update is that UNHCR will begin transferring some of the 13,000 new refugees from Darfur to a safer location in Chad this week.

All of this news reminds us that Darfur is not just an isolated conflict. It is connected to Chad, to skirmishes in the Central African Republic, and to south Sudan as it rebuilds from a fledgling peace. Ending the conflict in Darfur will require a comprehensive strategy by the United States and other governments that addresses insecurity in the region as a whole. As we’ve written many times before this approach must include holding the Government of Sudan accountable for its actions, enforcing an arms embargo on the Government of Sudan and Chadian and Sudanese rebels, and supporting the UN and European peacekeeping forces sent to the region.

--Camilla Olson

International Women's Day: Iraqi Women in Exile

In honor of International Women's Day on March 8th, Refugees International is taking this week on our blog to focus on the stories of refugee women from around the world.

A recent National Public Radio story, “Iraqi Militias Target Women,” shed some light on the situation for Iraqi refugee women in exile. The women featured were each located in different countries but their reasons for leaving Iraq were similar. Rima worked for an aid organization inside Iraq before traveling to Syria. Her reason for leaving Iraq was simple: “So many times I went to places that poor women were living. They [the militias] knew me, they knew my face.” Another woman, who served as a translator for an aid organization and is now living in Jordan, fled Iraq for fear of her own safety. When asked if it was more dangerous for her because she was a woman or a translator, her response was, “woman.”

One story familiar to Refugees International is Basima, formerly the head librarian at Mosul University. She was threatened by militants because of her headscarf and now lives in Lebanon. Her interview on NPR drew on her playful personality. Reporter Deborah Amos describes her as a “dignified middle aged woman [who] displays a wicked sense of humor when it comes to the young men who dictated her headgear.” RI staff members first met with Basima when they visited the home she shares with her younger brother, his wife and their three children in the Fanar suburb of Beirut. While in Lebanon, the RI team visited many families assisted by CARITAS and Basima’s family was one of them. These are just some examples of the brave, courageous women who have been forced to leave Iraq, but hope for better lives and a better future for their country and their families.

During that mission last fall, RI drew attention to Iraqi refugees imprisoned in Lebanon and facing deportation. Last week, the Government of Lebanon agreed to provide all Iraqis with a three-month grace period and the opportunity to stay longer if they find employers to sponsor them. Iraqi refugees detained for staying in the country illegally are also set to be released in the coming weeks and months. For the over 4.5 million displaced Iraqis within and outside Iraq, efforts like these are important signs of progress in the region. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to ensure that the international community continues to respond to the needs of Iraqi refugees.

--Vanessa Parra