Speech #1140057164

Mr. Speaker. on Tuesday I convened a Helsinki Commission hearing to scrutinize the European refugee crisis and help determine the most effective ways in which the U.S.. the European Union. and the OSCE can and should respond. The Syrian displacement crisis that has consumed seven countries in the Middle East has become the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since World War I1. At least 250.000 people have been killed in Syrias civil war. many of them civilians. The security forces of Syrian dictator Bashar alAssads security forces have been responsible for many of these killings. targeting neighborhoods with barrel bombs and shooting civilians pointblank. ISIS has committed genocide. mass atrocities. and war crimes. against Christians and other minorities. and likewise targeted. brutalized and killed Shia and Sunni Muslims who reject its ideology and brutality. Fleeing for safety. more than four million Syrians are refugees. the largest refugee population in the world. and another 7.6 million Syrians are displaced inside their home country. Syrias neighborsJordan. Lebanon. Turkey. Iraq. and Egyptare hosting most of these refugees. Before the Syria crisis. these countries struggled with high rates of unemployment. strained public services. and a range of other domestic challenges. Since the conflict began. Syrian refugees have become a quarter of Lebanons population. and Iraq. which has been beset by ISIS and sectarian conflict. is hosting almost 250.000 refugees from Syria. Until this past summer. few Syrian refugees went beyond countries that border their homeland. Syrian refugees and migrants from a range of countries have since come to Europe in such large numbers. and so quickly. that many European countries. especially frontline entry points like Greece. transit countries like Serbia. and destination countries like Germany. have been challenged to respond. The UN High Commission for Refugees. UNHCR. reports that more than 635.000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea in 2015. Fifty three percent of these people are from Syria. sixteen percent from Afghanistan. six percent from Eritrea. and five percent from Iraq. Notably. only fourteen percent of them are women. twenty percent are children. and the remaining sixty five percent are men.