*EPF408 11/18/2004
United States Leads World in Refugee Resettlement
(High costs endanger expansion of resettlement programs, official says) (620)

By Charlene Porter
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States welcomed 53,000 refugees for resettlement during the fiscal year that ended in September, leading the world in offering a permanent home to peoples who, in some cases, have been trapped in refugee camps for decades.

"The United States did its share, more than its share, really," said Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees Arthur "Gene" Dewey November 15, speaking to international journalists. The United States accepted more refugees than the 10 other countries involved in resettlement, offering a new start to 54 percent of the world's refugees resettled in fiscal year 2004.

Resettlement of refugees has become far more complicated than it used to be, Dewey said, recalling a time in the 1970s and 1980s when the Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and Africa were the three main sources of refugees in need of a new country. The end of the Cold War and the ensuing conflict and unrest in various regions of the world have changed conditions considerably, he said.

"Now we receive refugees from about 46 different locations, much smaller clusters around the world," Dewey said. "And there are about 60 different nationalities."

Heightened concerns about the threat of terrorism since 2001 have also made U.S. officials more cautious in the evaluation of candidates for resettlement in the United States.

These combined factors have driven up the cost of resettlement significantly. The State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration reports that U.S. costs of resettlement for fiscal year 2004 were $3,500 per refugee admitted, compared to $2,200 in 2001. The almost 60 percent increase creates what Dewey called a "funding impediment," which could curtail the resettlement effort in fiscal year 2005.

Under U.S. law, the president annually sets a ceiling for the number of refugees that can be admitted to the United States. For fiscal year 2005, the limit is set at 70,000 refugees. Dewey says financing could be an obstacle, but he is holding out hope that obstacle can be overcome.

"We know we have friends in the Congress who are also interested in this," Dewey said. "The White House is very interested in building the refugee resettlement program and we're counting on support from both of those places to help us get the funds that are needed to demonstrate to the world that we are indeed growing in the program."

The assistant secretary said other nations that presently have programs to resettle refugees must expand their resettlement efforts. "It's not a sustainable situation for the United States to do more than all of the other resettlement countries in the world combined."

The costs of resettlement require greater burden-sharing by the other resettlement nations, but the needs for resettlement add greater urgency to a heightened commitment to help refugees, Dewey said.

"If 140,000 Burmese, for example, if a large proportion of them become available for resettlement to third countries, the United States can't or shouldn't do it all, and we couldn't do it because of the financial constraints that I mentioned for the next fiscal year," Dewey said. "Therefore, we do need other countries to step up and to do their part."

In addition to the United States, the other nations that have refugee resettlement programs are Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Further details about U.S. refugee resettlement programs is available at http://www.state.gov/g/prm/

Further information about the global resettlement effort is available from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees at
http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/protect?id=3b8366bc4

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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