UNHCR Executive Committee Meeting
October 1, 2003

P. Michael McKinley
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State For Population, Refugees and Migration
United States of America

Protection Statement

Introduction

I thank Ms. Feller for her statement and for putting together this year's comprehensive Note on International Protection.

Protection Challenges

The vulnerability of refugees and the challenges to ensure their protection have again been front and center this year. Refugees have been caught up in conflicts and subjected to forced recruitment, refoulement, expulsions or forced removal from their camps or settlements, as well as to sexual abuse. The security of refugees and of humanitarian workers in many areas is tenuous. The challenge to UNHCR and its partners is increasingly complex and dangerous.

Mandate

The approaching renewal of UNHCR's mandate is a good time for all of us - UNHCR, its partners, and member states - to recommit ourselves to that mandate and to the international refugee regime. The United States continues to believe that the protection regime remains relevant and provides an excellent
basis for international action. It is the implementation of the Convention and Protocol that is the issue in many cases. As I said in this room last year, refugee protection is an obligation, not a choice.

We are devoting considerable time and effort to the development of the Convention Plus concept to deal with changed circumstances in the world with regard to increased trafficking and mixed flows. The refugees of today in several regions of the world are subjected to increased insecurity and abuse. We
should marshal the same enthusiasm and commitment to deal with these added threats as we have in other areas. The consultations on the prevention of sexual abuse were a good start.

States are not always able or willing to shoulder their responsibilities regarding protection and security. While agreeing that UNHCR is not in a position to separate out armed elements or to restrict incursions into refugee camps, the very presence of its staff and those of its implementing partners serves as a deterrent to many protection abuses. The Note before us concurs, stating "the physical presence of staff is key to UNHCR's ability to promote refugees' physical security, both at borders, and in locations and camps prone to such risks". And yet, as my staff travel around the world monitoring programs, they constantly report back that protection presence is inadequate, that posts are unfilled or filled by a relay of people on temporary duty.

What is the reason for this? UNHCR has told us it is primarily a question of resources. My Government is, therefore, seeking additional funding in 2004 to help increase the number of UNHCR protection and community services field staff. We would venture to say, however, that it is not just a question of funding but one of priority setting and of making sure that the right tools are available. These tools include increased and effective protection presence in the field; the development of an efficient, standardized registration system; protection training for all UNHCR staff and implementing partners; and the operationalization of the many excellent guidelines and best practices, particularly on the protection of refugee women and refugee children.

We acknowledge the dangerous environment in which UNHCR operates, and the absolute necessity of staff security as UNHCR carries out its protection mandate. We commend UNHCR for its courage in the face of danger.
We are pleased that UNHCR has agreed to undertake an evaluation of its staffing of protection-related positions.

In an effort to fill the gap and provide for increased protection needs, my government has funded the Protection Surge Capacity Project. 55 protection staff have been deployed to date. We had hoped to see this project mainstreamed into UNHCR's program and budget this year. While this is not the case, we urge UNHCR to take responsibility for this project through the new mechanism established in the Operational Reserve for additionality. We appeal to other donors to join us in funding it.
There will be a panel discussion on this project Thursday at 9:00 o'clock. I believe member states and others will find it to be informative.

Refugee Women and Refugee Children

We welcome UNHCR's leadership role in efforts taken to prevent sexual abuse and exploitation, including the development of its Code of Conduct and the consultations process. We strongly urge UNHCR, however, to not downgrade the Senior Coordinator positions when the proposed new team approach in the field is not yet in place. Some of the most useful work the Coordinators do is providing advice to senior managers in regional bureaus. That ability could disappear with their reduction in rank.

Food Security

Another factor that has a major impact on the protection of refugees is food security; this was brought home to us by the cases of sexual abuse and exploitation. We urge continued close cooperation between UNHCR and WFP to ensure that food supplies are adequate and that pipeline breaks are eliminated. We are encouraged by the efforts of two organizations under the new MOU, in particular in Uganda. We have been willing to assist - in the past year we have helped addressed pipeline breaks. We remain willing to assist, and ask to be informed early on about anticipated problems.

Registration

We welcome the progress that has been made on "Project Profile" and appreciate the briefing on the status of the project. We continue to urge UNHCR to put together a support group of member states to help ensure adequate funding and technical expertise to move forward with the implementation of the
project and its deployment to the field next year. We stand ready to offer our support to ensure that Project Profile's planning deadlines are met and that implementation proceeds as rapidly as possible.

Resettlement

The United States was pleased to see the commitment to resettlement as both a means of protection and a durable solution in the Note before us. Our commitment to resettling refugees remains as strong as ever, although we have heard discussion this week indicating that our refugee resettlement program is not well understood. In fact, the United States has not a single criterion for refugee resettlement that relates to skill level, education, or language facility. Our resettlement program includes family reunification, but the largest aspect of our program is devoted to resettlement of vulnerable refugees - those whose protection cannot be guaranteed in the country of asylum. We have emphasized mixed marriages involving ethnic or religious groups in armed conflict with each other, and we have a large effort to provide resettlement to women at risk, usually from sexual violence. The overwhelming majority of refugees resettled in the United States would never fall in a category that could qualify as "cherry-picking"..

We have provided additional funding to UNHCR this year to enhance its resettlement capacity. We are extremely encouraged by the results, and urge the High Commissioner to continue his efforts to
identify and refer cases for resettlement. We remain committed to basing our resettlement decisions solely on the needs of the refugee, without regard for the refugee's education, economic status, or religion.

Partnerships for Protection

We strongly support the High Commissioner's call for a fuller partnership with other humanitarian actors. Much has been done to reach out to partners on protection issues. The NGOs are on the front lines in refugee situations and are, as we have said before, UNHCR's eyes and ears. Perhaps the time has come for them to take on another more operational role - a fuller partnership on physical protection and refugee security.

Asylum

We support UNHCR's efforts to address the asylum/migration nexus, including through the AGAMI working group, but are disappointed that there have been no briefings or reports for member states on this work.

We share UNHCR's views on the merits of a well-resourced asylum system as one of the most effective ways of stemming abuse.

The United States congratulates UNHCR on the recent release of an updated REFWORLD CD. We hope that UNHCR will maintain the capacity to produce such high quality materials. We also urge UNHCR, to the extent possible, to make public its recommendations on particular issues or caseloads; these are not useful to our refugee adjudicators unless they can be explicitly cited.

Convention Plus and the Forum

We recognize the High Commissioner's efforts in
"developing criteria for identifying specific situations which may become Convention Plus initiatives, drawing on lessons from recent experience in places like Afghanistan, Angola and West Africa." We also note that the High Commissioner intends to convene another meeting of the Forum in conjunction with the first meeting of the Standing Committee in 2004.

We do remain concerned about how Convention Plus will move forward and what the role of the Forum will be. Again, my government calls for a focus on finding solutions to specific refugee crises, and encourages the High Commissioner to begin applying this mechanism to current operations.

Agenda for Protection

Finally, and underpinning nearly everything we have referred to this afternoon is the importance of the implementation of the Agenda for Protection. This is our roadmap. We were pleased to see several member states report or promise reports on their countries' efforts to implement the Agenda. We reported
at the last Standing Committee and will not repeat again what we said there. We are, however, looking at increased efforts to implement the Agenda for Protection and we will report back to the February Standing Committee.