Mr. President. the International Rescue Committee (IRC] is celebrating 60 years of providing humanitarian relief to refugees. I am proud to be a cosponsor of Senator PELLS resolution to commemorate this event. There are estimated to be a staggering 18 million refugees in the world today. Ethnic conflicts. long suppressed by the cold war have now been rekindled creating a steady flow of refugees in places like Bosnia. Armenia. Sudan. and now Georgia. Natural disasters and other armed conflicts make no small contribution to the pool of displaced persons. The IRC has worked diligently over the last 60 years to provide relief to those who have been forced from their homes. It works not only to provide for the immediate needs of refugees by providing food. shelter. and medicine. but the IRC also seeks to provide for the longterm well being of refugees through education and worker training and by employing refugees. The IRC is a frugal organization and a testament to their commitment to providing for refugees concentrates the bulk of its resources on the refugees. In 1991 Money magazine named IRC the best managed large U.S. charity. with 94.9 percent of its annual budget spent directly on assisting refugees. The collapse of empires has historically been followed by periods of turmoil as the world readjusts to the power vacuum created by its sudden disintegration. Unfortunately. the need for organizations such as the IRC may well continue to grow. Being forced to leave ones home is a terribly devastating and traumatic experience and those who endure such hardship have my deepest sympathy. I would hope that those who are unfortunate enough to become refugees. do have the fortune of finding the IRC at the end of their long journey. IRC is a beacon of hope and testimony to the fact that human nature is not irredeemably savage.*
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refugees