Mr. President. this amendment extends for 2 years a provision in current law which facilitates the granting of refugee status for certain historically persecuted groups. The existing law formally recognizes that the historic experience of certain persecuted religious minorities in the Soviet Union and Indochina. and a pattern of arbitrary denials of refugee status to members of these minorities. entitles them to a relaxed standard of proof in determinations about whether they are refugees. The law. which now is set to expire at the end of this fiscal year. lowers the evidentiary standard required to qualify for refugee status for Jews and Evangelical Christians from the former Soviet Union. certain Ukrainians. and certain categories of Vietnamese. Laotians. or Cambodians. Once a refugee applicant proves he or she is a member of one of these groups. he or she only has to provide a "credible basis for concern" about the possibility of persecution. Refugee applicants normally must prove a "wellfounded fear of persecution." The law has had a real and positive impact on refugee adjudication. This liberalized standard is still necessary because conditions for the persecuted groups in the former Soviet Union and Indochina still exist. and in some cases. have worsened. The strong showing of Zhirinovskywho received 23 percent of the popular vote in the recent elections--has heightened concern about the safety and wellbeing of historically persecuted groups in the former Soviet Union. There is nothing ambiguous about the themes Zhirinovsky espouses and which he rode to victory: virulent xenophobia. ethnic hatred and contempt for democratic norms. During the campaign. the ultranationalist candidate blamed the Jews themselves for providing a higher level of antisemitism. On the stump and on his recent swing through Europe.
Keywords matched
refugees Refugee refugee xenophobia