ERIC SCHWARTZ, PRESIDENT
Pronouns: He/him/his
Eric Schwartz became President of Refugees International in June 2017. Eric has had a three-decade career focused on humanitarian and human rights issues. Between 2009 and 2011, he served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. As Assistant Secretary, he was credited with strengthening the State Department’s humanitarian advocacy around the world, initiating and implementing critical enhancements to the U.S. refugee resettlement program and raising the profile of global migration issues in U.S. foreign policy. He was the senior human rights and humanitarian official at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, managing humanitarian responses to crises in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. He also served as the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery after the 2004 Asian Tsunami; as Washington Director of Asia Watch (now the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch); and Staff Consultant to the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, among other positions in the U.S. government, at the UN and in the non-profit sector. Just prior to arriving at Refugees International, Eric served a six-year term as Dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. During much of that period, he also served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and, ultimately, as the Commission’s vice chair. He holds a law degree from New York University School of Law, a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
Twitter: @EricSchwartzRI
Refugees International believes the State of Myanmar has committed genocide against the Rohingya people, and as the threat of genocide continues, the world must take action.
The world’s more than 70 million forcibly displaced people—including refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, and other forced migrants—are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.
Según los hallazgos en el informe de Refugees International (RI), tanto Estados Unidos como México deportan a personas con considerables necesidades de protección a Honduras y El Salvador, países de los que huyeron. El informe, Vidas en riesgo: Fallas en las medidas de protección afectan a hondureños y salvadoreños deportados de Estados Unidos y México, indica que el proceso de protección en todas las etapas –desde la tramitación de una solicitud de asilo hasta la deportación y reinserción en el país de origen– se caracteriza por graves fallas que, en última instancia, ponen en peligro vidas humanas. La investigación de RI también determinó que, a pesar de las inversiones sustanciales en servicios de acogida para los deportados, tanto Honduras como El Salvador tienen sistemas de protección deficientes.
Both the United States and Mexico are deporting individuals with significant protection needs back to Honduras and El Salvador – the countries from which they fled. In this report, Refugees International (RI) finds that the protection process at every stage – from asylum application to deportation to reintegration into the country of origin – suffers from serious failures that ultimately put lives at risk. The RI research also found that despite important investments in reception services for deportees, both Honduras and El Salvador have weak protection systems.
Following the violent expulsion of some 400,000 Rohingya in Myanmar in the course of three weeks (now more than 500,000), Refugees International (RI) President Eric Schwartz and Senior Advocate for Human Rights Daniel Sullivan traveled to Bangladesh to assess the situation and bear witness. This policy brief is based on that mission, which involved interviews with Rohingya refugees who recently arrived from Myanmar as well as with United Nations and Bangladesh government officials and international aid workers in Bangladesh.
United States Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, President of Refugees International Eric Schwartz, and Chairperson of Refugee Congress Board of Directors Lourena Gboeah discuss the role of the United States Congress in humanitarian support for displaced populations.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz testified during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Rohingya crisis.
An unprecedented global migration crisis has now collided with the COVID-19 pandemic. How do the most vulnerable — those fleeing persecution, climate catastrophes and the protection of fundamental rights — navigate a world upended by a global public health crisis?
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz joins humanitarian experts in discussing the response to COVID-19 in displaced communities.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz delivered a keynote address at a Georgetown University Berkley Center conference on “Current Challenges in Refugee Policy: Kids, Courts, and Refugee Resettlement in Global Perspective,” on November 6, 2019, entitled “Confessions of a Humanitarian Optimist.”
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz testifies before the Helsinki Commission on how the United States should respond to Turkey’s human rights abuses toward Syrian refugees.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz delivered the following speech at the John and Lawrence Bonzani Memorial Lecture at Binghamton University on September 18, 2019.
In remarks at Saint John’s Church, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz explains that for many tens of thousands of Central Americans—and even hundreds of thousands—forced migration is fueled by well-founded fears of women, men, and children about serious and striking abuses of their human rights.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations in a hearing on “A Global Crisis: Refugees, Migrants, and Asylum Seekers.”
On July 18, 2017, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development and Multilateral Institutions at a hearing, titled, "The Four Famines: Root Causes and a Multilateral Action Plan." In his testimony, Schwartz focused on the factors leading to famine conditions in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan, and Nigeria.
Whether it is Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar for Bangladesh, Venezuelans fleeing into Colombia, or Central Americans fleeing the Northern Triangle and living in fear in northern Mexico, asylum-seeking is a far less than orderly process. But smart and humane policies can help.
The Trump administration is close to designating Yemen’s Houthi militia as a foreign terrorist organization. The designation would prevent U.S. persons or organizations from almost any interaction with the Houthis and long-suffering Yemenis will pay the price.
Amid the race to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine, the world must not leave refugees and other forcibly displaced people behind.
In the coming weeks, President Trump will decide on the number of refugees the United States is prepared to admit and resettle from around the world in fiscal 2021. All indications are that the president will continue to turn his back on this vital program and further tarnish a proud record of support for women, men, and children driven from their homes. This would be cruel, unnecessary, and a blow to U.S. interests.
Myanmar began its worst violence yet against Rohingya Muslims three years ago today, ruthlessly driving out hundreds of thousands of women, men and children through murder and other grievous abuses, in a campaign intended to destroy, in whole or in part, the Rohingya people. It’s time for the United States to call it genocide.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz briefs the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on the immense humanitarian challenges of the Venezuelan displacement crisis.
In a particularly egregious violation of law and common decency, the Trump White House is pressing U.S. diplomats to negotiate a “safe third country agreement” with Guatemala. If implemented, it will put the lives of thousands of Central Americans at great risk. Alarmed, Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International, took the unusual step of writing a letter to the State Department’s top acting lawyer, urging he and his office cease involvement in efforts to secure the agreement.
In a video message, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz shares thoughts on the tragic image of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria from El Salvador whose deaths are the inevitable result of policies that prevent people from seeking asylum in safety and dignity.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz delivered remarks at a Senate Climate Change Task Force session on Climate Change and Refugees.
In remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz offers some perspectives on the migrant caravan and on questions relating to asylum.
In an oped in the Jersualem Post, Refugees International President Eric Schwartz describes why the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate U.S. support for humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Middle East represents a misguided approach.
Eric Schwartz outlines an actionable advocacy campaign that civil society can undertake to move forward on the issue of statelessness in the context of an administration that is unlikely to make progress on the issue and in fact risks exacerbating statelessness in the United States.
Last week, when I was in Minneapolis teaching at the University of Minnesota, I took the four hour drive up I-94 to Madison, Wisconsin for an evening of music benefiting Refugees International. The band The Whiskey Farm performed their song, "You are Welcome Here," which honors America's tradition of welcoming and supporting refugees and displaced people from around the world.
This was a year of new beginnings and the start of an exciting opportunity as I took on the leadership of Refugees International. But as I begin this gratifying new chapter of my own professional life, I am fully aware that for millions of refugees and displaced people around the world, 2017 was a devastating year.
In short, two months after Hurricane Maria pummeled this island, the U.S. response remains too slow and bureaucratic, and lacks transparency and the broad information-sharing that is essential to an effective disaster response.
Over a three decade career, I’ve been on dozens of humanitarian and human rights missions, but I don’t remember choking up on any of them -- until this current trip to Bangladesh.
What I am about to write is staggering: it is estimated by the United Nations and others that, over the past several weeks, the government of Myanmar and its military have driven nearly 300,000 Rohingya from their homes and out of Myanmar (also known as Burma).
On World Humanitarian Day 2017, Eric Schwartz remembers Sergio Vieira de Mello, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who died in a 2003 bombing in Iraq and for whom this day honoring humanitarians was created.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will travel to Washington, D.C. and will meet this week with Members of Congress and administration officials. He will be in Washington in the wake of an extraordinary press conference he held at the United Nations in New York on June 20, in which he urged the Trump administration to stay engaged on global issues. This is an extraordinary plea to the U.S. president from the UN's chief.
On Dec. 4, 2000, the United Nations General Assembly declared that June 20 would be "celebrated" annually as World Refugee Day. For millions of people displaced by conflict and persecution globally, there is little to celebrate, but World Refugee Day does present an opportunity to bring attention to their plight, and to the possibility of solutions.
Refugees International announced the launch of an expert task force on climate change and migration in response to an Executive Order (EO) issued by President Biden on February 4.
The president’s decision to reaffirm the refugee admissions ceiling of his predecessor is deeply disappointing, and makes the Trump and Biden administrations jointly responsible for the lowest ceiling since the start of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program some four decades ago.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz responds to President Biden’s announcement regarding the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Refugees International is deeply concerned about the failure of Myanmar’s neighbors to protect those seeking refuge from the Myanmar military’s February 2021 coup and ongoing attacks on civilians.
Refugees International welcomes the introduction of the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021. The bill will not only bring millions of immigrants out of the shadows, but will help unite separated families, increase fairness in the immigration courts, and promote education and integration of refugees and immigrants.
President Biden’s executive order not only envisions a fundamental reversal of abusive policies of the past four years, but the implementation of a broad range of fundamental improvements that have been long overdue and that will help secure the well-being and rights of those forced to flee persecution, violence, and disasters.
Within hours of taking office on January 20, President Biden signed executive orders that will begin to restore America’s tradition of welcoming those who are seeking refuge and reestablish U.S. humanitarian leadership abroad. Refugees International President Eric Schwartz commended the administration for these necessary actions.
A statement by Refugees International President Eric Schwartz on Secretary Pompeo’s January 19, 2021 genocide announcement.
Refugees International President Eric Schwartz reacts to violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A statement from 14 former U.S. government officials who have worked on migration, refugee, and humanitarian issues for Democratic and Republican administrations over the past four decades praises President-elect Biden’s proposed senior national security officials for their leadership on refugee and migration affairs.