Speech #1030026580

Mr. Speaker. the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission). which I have the honor to cochair. has devoted considerable attention over the past year to the ongoing conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the terrible human costs of that conflictin particular. the creation of millions of refugees and internally displaced persons. At this point. nearly half of the population of Bosniasome 2 million men. women. and childrenhave fled their homes. The appalling circumstances that caused them to flee have been replaced by the uncertainty and trauma of their new situation: Many of them separated from their families. far from homes that may no longer exist. robbed of their belongings and their dignity as human beings. And tragically. the plight of refugees from the former Yugoslavia is only the most visible of a series of ongoing or potential refugee crises in Europe. from Turkey to Tajikistan. Clearly. refugee issues in Europe fall among our most pressing human rights challenges today. From April 2023. 1993. the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE] will be holding a seminar on migration. including refugees and displaced. persons. This is the second of four human dimension seminars mandated by the Helsinki Document of 1992. and it represents a new direction for the CSCE. The human dimension seminars are designed to encourage the candid exchange of information and experiences among practitioners and policymakers from all 53 CSCE member states. Focusing on issues that affect the entire CSCE community. both within and across boundaries. the seminars offer a unique opportunity for official and nongovernmental actors to seek advice. share ideas. and forge contacts. The U.S. delegation will be headed by my good friend and colleague Ambassador Warren Zimmermann. whose extensive experience both in CSCE and in refugee matters is well known. He will be joined by a high powered group of migration experts. including practitioners with handson experience in refugee resettlement in the United States. I wanted to take this opportunity. in anticipation of the seminar. to lay out some of the issues the Helsinki Commission hopes will be raised and discussed. either formally or in the margins of the meeting. The significance of migration issues in the CSCE has certainly changed over the years. from the days when securing freedom of movement was among our primary human rights concerns. ethnic strife and regional tensions have forced masses of refugees. asylumseekers. and economically or environmentally driven migrants to seek an urgent response from many CSCE participating states. As we look toward the future. the CSCE community must focus its attention on securing respect for human rights in the newest independent states and the fledgling democracies. on rebuilding shattered economies across the former Soviet bloc. and on defusing the ethnic and regional conflicts that lead to mass migrations. As I mentioned at the outset. the refugee crisis resulting from events in the former Yugoslavia is enormous and growing. In the course of a January 1993 Commission hearing on this subject. we were urged to pursue clarification of the legal status of Bosnian refugees in Croatia. Slovenia. Hungary. and other border states. We were told. "In these and other European states. refugees are being treated on an ad hoc basis. vaguely defined as externally displaced people or as having temporary refugee status. terms that are absent from the 1951 Refugee Convention or other international legal instruments relating to refugees. They are left in an uncertain legal position. needing to worry whether they will be permitted to work or travel or whether permission to stay will suddenly be withdrawn." Certainly. no state wants to take any measures that might be interpreted as facilitating ethnic cleansing. which partly explains the emphasis on the temporary status of the refugees they host. But Bosnians who have fled their homeland clearly meet the 1951 standard of a wellfounded fear of persecution for reasons of race. religion. nationality. membership of a particular social group or political opinion. and as such. deserve the full range of legal protections afforded to refugees by the Refugee Convention and other relevant domestic and international laws. We have urged Ambassador Zimmermann to underscore this point as the situation of Bosnian refugees is discussed at the seminar. A second concern regards the treatment of asylum seekers in Europe. particularly those persons belonging to national minorities. Migration often stems from inadequate protection of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. yet. too often. prejudice and discrimination are shared across boundaries. On November 1. 1992.. a GermanRomanian agreement went into effect. according to which thousands of Romanian asylum seekers are to be repatriated to Romania. The German Minister of the Interior indicated at the time that the majority of these Romanians are Roma. Gypsies. creating the impression that the ethnic and cultural identity of these individuals were important factors in the decision to deport them. The Commission strongly believes that implementation of existing CSCE commitments regarding the rights of persons belonging to national minorities. and support of many of the ideas advanced at the recent CSCE seminar on tolerance. will help reduce the kinds of pressures that contribute to international migration. By the same token. we maintain that host country authorities at all levels have a particular responsibility to set an example of sensitivity to the very real plight of the vast majority of individuals who have taken the dramatic step of fleeing their homes. This is especially critical in areas where hostility toward refugees risks leading to violence against them. We hope the U.S. delegation will emphasize this point at the seminar. Consideration of measures to restrict asylum policy in some CSCE countries has included. in some instances. the development of lists of safe and repressive countries. The Commission shares the view of human rights groups like Amnesty International that the list system overlooks the possibility of legitimate individual cases of persecution. Clearly. a balance must be found between respect for the honored principle of asylum and the pressure many policymakers feel to reestablish control over their borders. and we look forward to a fruitful discussion at the seminar of options and strategies. including the establishment of immigration and naturalization policies. as well as measures to speed up asylum processing. and to discourage invalid claims. The Commission believes this timely seminar offers a critical opportunity for the CSCE member states to work collectively. as countries that generate refugees and countries that receive them. to prevent involuntary migration. to protect involuntary migrants. and to build effective institutions. consistent with CSCE and democratic norms. in the newest member states. A member of the Helsinki Commission staff will serve on the U.S. delegation. and will report fully on the seminar upon her return.