11:00 A.M. EDT 
MODERATOR: Good morning and welcome to the Foreign Press Center for today's briefing on Iraqi refugees and the conference that was just held in Geneva. Today we have with us Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey who was on our delegation in Geneva. She'll begin with a statement about the conference, about the situation and then be happy to take your questions.
Assistant Secretary, thanks for coming.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Thank you. And do I understand we have some visitors from Nepal?
MODERATOR: We do.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: I would like to let the visitors from Nepal know that we have people from our bureau in Katmandu right now looking at setting up a processing operation to resettle Bhutanese refugees. We hope to be able to be starting to bring some of the Bhutanese refugees out of Nepal this year, so welcome to the United States.
The purpose of the press conference, of course, is to give you an overview of the meeting last week in Geneva and then take your questions in terms of the general issues that we are dealing with every day in my bureau.
Let me just start by saying that I think the conference was a very good starting point for international coordination. In addressing the crisis of Iraqi displacement and bringing together donors and countries that are hosting displaced Iraqis as well as the international humanitarian community, including NGOs who are a very vital part of providing services. It was very important in highlighting the serious situation that is faced by the nearly two million Iraqi refugees and the nearly two million internally displaced persons.
We were pleased with the level of response. There were 40 nations that were represented at the conference. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, issued a strategic framework for humanitarian action in Iraq. This is providing the very important framework for coordinating and expanding humanitarian assistance inside of the country of the UN organization itself. Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari made a very strong commitment to Iraq's displaced citizens both inside and outside of Iraq. He laid out a five-point plan for Iraqi Government support of displaced Iraqis and it includes the negotiation of framework for assistance with the neighboring countries that are hosting Iraqi refugees. It includes the commitment to work with UNHCR, nongovernmental organizations and the Red Crescent Movement, a commitment to expand efforts to support IDPs, internally displaced persons, inside of Iraq and also expansion of passport issuance for Iraqi citizens.
The Foreign Minister pledged $25 million on behalf of the Iraqi Government for assistance to all displaced Iraqis. And he noted the need for the government to undertake greater protection for the extremely vulnerable Palestinian refugees inside of Iraq. Countries were unanimous that the best durable solution was the return of Iraqis voluntarily to their homes in Iraq. Many noted that all in the region must support the Iraqi government and its people in creating the conditions that will allow voluntary return in safety and dignity.
Iraq's neighbors said that they would continue to host Iraqi refugees but that they need international assistance to help them shoulder the burden. Donors demonstrated a readiness to cooperate to provide further assistance.
I think the conference was a solid step forward in addressing humanitarian concerns as well as boosting regional stability. Conference participants took a constructive approach and made concrete proposals to address the problem. The U.S. delegation included representatives from several of our bureaus that address our refugee resettlement as well as assistance and it also included NGOs. The U.S. delegation stressed our strong commitment to humanitarian assistance of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons. And we held a number of bilateral discussions with countries in the region as well as other donor and resettlement countries. We also met with the Iraq and Syrian Red Crescent, UNHCR and IOM.
In -- just kind of giving you a closing overview, I'd like to say the United States stands ready to continue its strong support. We asked both traditional donors and new donor countries to be generous in their responses. Iraqi displacement is a serious problem, but if we act together we can help Iraq address the needs of its people. We can assure protection and assistance for the most vulnerable. And when conditions permit we can help Iraqis displaced return to their homes and rebuild their lives.
Thank you and I'll be happy to take your questions.
MODERATOR: If you would please wait for the mike and identify yourself. No questions? Jim.
QUESTION: Hi, Jim Lobe Inter Press Service. I wanted to ask about the Palestinians in particular. Apparently, the Palestinian Government has asked for consideration that they be resettled in the Palestinian territories, but that Israel has refused to consider this. Are you in discussions with Israel and the Palestinian -- I don't know -- the PLO or the President's office regarding their possible -- or some of these -- this population going to Palestinian territories? I understand they're stateless as of now and have no nationality at all.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Yes, just to update those who might not be fully aware. There are 15,000 Palestinian refugees who have been inside of Iraq for many, many years. They were -- believed to have been given favoritism by Saddam Hussein and that has made them a particular target. There is no question that this is the most vulnerable population, that they have no place to go because the surrounding countries will not allow Palestinians to enter their territory. We have been in discussions, I can say with both Israel and also with Kurdistan, about the possibilities of that -- as one of those as possible solutions. At this point, we have had no positive response, but we continue to work at this because we know that this has got to require a diplomatic solution and this is, of all the people who are displaced inside of Iraq because they are totally trapped and because they are singled out for persecution, this is one of the most difficult issues that we're dealing with.
QUESTION: Have you engaged at all, if not the Palestinian Authority then the President's office there with respect to their willingness to resettle these in Palestinian territories?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: I believe that the Palestinian Authority has indicated that they view this issue as unique. And I'm looking over here because one of my colleagues -- Jay would you like to make a comment here. You'll have to come to the mike.
MR. ZIMMERMAN: We have been discussing with the Palestinian authorities and they have said they recognize that the Palestinians in Baghdad are particularly vulnerable and that they are -- they do see resettlement as the only option available for them and that's what we're pursuing.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) among the -- I'm sorry. Can you just describe which officials in the Palestinian authorities you've been talking to, whether it's confined to the President's office or whether it includes also the new foreign minister or finance minister as well?
MR. ZIMMERMAN: We have -- at the moment we have not confined it only to the President's office. We have talked to other officials who I'm not right now willing or able to tell you exactly whom we're speaking with, but we are talking at as senior levels as we can get.
MODERATOR: Yes, ma'am, in the back.
QUESTION: Hi, this is Stephanie Ho with Voice of America. I just wanted to ask about negotiations between the U.S. -- are any talks between the U.S. and countries that have a lot of Iraqi refugees such as Jordan and Syria. You mentioned that there were talks with the Syrian Red Crescent Society, but I just wondered if you could give a little more detail in what exactly is the U.S. doing with Syria. Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: As I think most of you know, I made a trip to the region several weeks ago and at the expressed request of Secretary Rice, I did engage with the deputy foreign minister in Syria as well as officials in Jordan and Egypt. It was purely to discuss the humanitarian needs in those countries, which we recognize have been generously hosting refugees for a very long period of time and are carrying a significant burden.
During the meeting in Geneva last week, at the request of the Syrians, we did again have a meeting, again, to discuss the humanitarian situation and the ways in which the United States can be of most assistance. We do recognize that the three areas that need help in all countries are education, shelter, and healthcare. And we are looking at how we can increase -- we are significantly increasing our assistance programs through NGOs and through international organizations to be able to help in all of the host countries.
And I might say I'm a former high school teacher and one of the most troubling things to me is the number of Iraqi children who are not in school. In Jordan, for example, the Jordanian Government has indicated that Iraqi children can go to school, but we think that based on what they've told us, that there are probably no more than 15,000 Iraqi children in school. Estimates would indicate that there are probably close to 200,000, somewhere between 150,000, 200,000 children of school age in Jordan. And for those children not to be in school is particularly troubling because this is the future of Iraq; this is the generation that will go home one day and needs to be educated to be able to rebuild their country.
There are also -- there's also the obvious, of creation of social problems within the host countries when you have large numbers of children who are not going to school, so I can tell you that this is going to be one of the areas that we are going to be really focusing on. The school year will start up again in the fall and I am very committed to doing everything that we can to work with the governments of the countries -- the surrounding countries to ensure that a lot more children are going to school when school opens in the fall.
QUESTION: Hi, David Shelby with USINFO. At the press conference following the meeting last week, you spoke about some of the particularly vulnerable individuals for whom return is perhaps not a solution. And at the time, I think you said that the United States has a total capacity to take in -- I think you said about 70,000 this year, of whom I think you said about 20,000 are unallocated slots. I know there's a lot of stories bouncing around about the United States is going to take in 25,000 Iraqis this year. I was wondering if maybe you'd like to revisit that, because I know that -- I think there was also a concern about the referral process, a lot of the mechanics, the clearances that -- you know, maybe 20,000 is not a realistic number to be talking about. Do you have a sense of what might be realistic to look at in the coming year?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Thank you for the question, because I'm happy to have an opportunity to clarify and make sure that what I said last week is understood, because I think it was misunderstood. What I was asked was -- as I have been asked so many times about the 7,000 cap and my point was to make it very clear that there is no 7,000 cap, that the 7,000 number that has been widely reported was the number that UNHCR indicated that they would -- they had -- that they had the capacity to refer directly to our program over the course of this fiscal year, which ends at the end of September.
They indicated that we might see twice that many, maybe as many as 20,000 by the end of the calendar year. Now a referral is not an admission to the United States. There is a great deal of time that is spent from the time that someone is referred to our program -- by the time they go through the required-by-law, face-to-face interview that has to be done by someone from the Department of Homeland Security in the country, fingerprinting, name checks -- and it's a fairly lengthy process. It takes, at best, four to six months to get someone from the point of being referred to the program through the interview process and through the security clearance. And we are working as expeditiously as we can to try to speed up that process.
Now in terms of the 20,000 number, that unallocated reserve is indeed there and that's the theoretical capacity that we have, along with the original plan that had been given to the President, which I might indicate was drafted before the large outflow began this year, over the past six months. So if you took the regional number, which had been in the plan that was given to the President and to Congress, which was 5,000 that we anticipated from the region and the 20,000 unallocated, you come up with a theoretical number of 25,000 from the region that would be able to be resettled within the presidential determination.
But because of the length of time that it takes to get people through the resettlement process, right now, we have 2300 referrals from UNHCR. They come from Turkey, Jordan, Syria, two from Egypt, smaller numbers from other areas. So these 2300 are in the pipeline. They've begun to be -- they will be being interviewed by DHS, Department of Homeland Security officers who will be in the region over the coming weeks. We have a schedule of these -- what are called circuit rides when the DHS agents go out and they, face-to-face, interview each applicant that has been referred to our program.
So I hope that clarifies. By the time we get to the end of the fiscal year, we are hoping that we will have actually been able to get several thousand through the clearance process. And it will continue as the referrals keep coming, the pipeline builds, and people will continue to be interviewed and hopefully heading our way on airplanes.
MODERATOR: Samir.
QUESTION: Samir Nader with Radio Sawa. I need your help here on a sound bite. How can we tell people, as a result of the conference, how are they going to -- the refugees and displaced, how are they going to be helped and when? How would they touch the help?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: In a sound bite. (Laughter.) What I think the conference produced --
QUESTION: If you are with a refugee or a displaced person, what will you tell him that -- when is he going to be helped, while is -- he or she on the ground?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: What the conference produced was an expanded commitment to both assistance and resettlement by not only the United States, but other countries as well, other traditional donor and resettlement countries. We have already -- the United States has already provided $18 million for UNHCR special appeal and that should be reaching -- that level of assistance should be reaching people already. In terms of resettlement, the United States has ramped up significantly our capacity to do the interviews, the people on the ground that have to be there in order to work this process more quickly.
We're also, I would add, working on a direct referral mechanism whereby those very vulnerable people who are vulnerable because of their association with the U.S. and multinational forces who are being targeted would be able to have direct access to our program without having to be standing in long lines potentially at UNHCR. But UNHCR, I think you would be interested in knowing, has at this point referred -- or excuse me, has registered 110,000 Iraqis from various countries in the region. And that's an essential part of getting assistance, because once people are registered and identified, their needs can be recognized and can be met.
MODERATOR: Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Josh Kirkman, Asahi Shimbun. In your discussions with the Syrians, do they attempt to link these -- this topic of refugees with any other U.S. bilateral issues?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: It's been -- it was made very clear to the Syrians in both discussions that our purpose for having these discussions was only to address the humanitarian issues. And I think that the Syrians have respected those boundaries that were given to them and we were able to have good constructive dialogue on the humanitarian issues and stuck to that.
MODERATOR: We have a follow-up.
QUESTION: Thank you. Do they consider then their cooperation on this matter to be, I guess, viewed as a sign of good faith in relation to other efforts?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: I think I can't speak to what the Syrians might think. I think that it's very clear that when a government is doing the right thing, that that should be recognized and that should be given credit. And so we have been able to talk to each of the governments in the region, thank them for their generosity in being good hosts, in keeping their borders open and in not forcibly returning people and making it very clear that that activity is viewed very constructively.
MODERATOR: Question here.
QUESTION: It's Joe Macaron from the Kuwait News Agency. Do you have an alternative plan in case the security plan failed in Iraq for those refugees? Do you foresee the -- do you have like the exit plan of how to deal with the refugees, especially in the Balkans and Syria? And my second question is many NGOs are saying that not enough attention are given to the internal displaced. So -- and it's obvious in the funding how much is allocated for the regional refugee and the (inaudible) for the local. So do you have also a plan on this one?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Let me just say that my bureau addresses those people who have crossed international borders and are therefore refugees. USAID has about the same level of funding for internal displacement as we have in my bureau for refugee assistance. I think the problem with internal displaced people is that it is much harder to get assistance to them because of the security issues.
We -- my bureau by the way, does fund the International Red Cross which works closely with the Iraqi Red Cross -- Red Crescent. And a great deal of the assistance now that is reaching internally displaced is coming through the Iraqi Red Crescent. We had good discussions with them in Geneva about how we can be of more help and what their needs are. But we are very happy that there is an organization within Iraq made up of Iraqis of all different ethnic groups who seem to be well accepted by the Iraqi people and are able to be getting assistance.
The main thing that we're trying to do in terms of internally displaced is to reinforce the ability of communities and of extended families to be able to continue hosting because we -- it's a good thing that there aren't camps and that people have been able to find shelter. And we did have some discussion about the need to -- with the Iraqis about the need to ensure that the various governments continue to allow people who are displaced to not only enter their territory, but also to receive assistance. And your first question again I have forgotten.
QUESTION: Well, certainly if you have an alternative plan in case the security (inaudible) fail in Iraq now. So what will happen to the refugees? Do you have an exit or any kind of (inaudible) to resolve this issue?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Certainly, there is always planning going on. But I would have to say everyone at the conference, including the United States, recognizes that first of all, long terms stays permanent forms of repatriation -- excuse me -- of local integration into the countries that are hosting is not going to happen. Jordan and Syria that host the largest numbers are very clear that they have already hosted large numbers for a long time and they're not going to allow refugees to continue staying in any kind of a permanent way. Resettlement we know at best is only going to address the needs of a small number who are vulnerable.
So the focus has got to be continuously focused on creating a peaceful and stable Iraq and that is the most important and fundamental part of U.S. policy is creating a situation where people will be able to go home voluntarily in peace and dignity. And I want to make the point that following the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqis were going home in large numbers. We helped to return through UNHCR and with voluntary spontaneous repatriation 300,000 Iraqis went home after the fall of Saddam Hussein. And it's been widely reported that only a small number came to the United States over the period between 2003 and 2006. The reason that a small number came to the United States was because most Iraqis wanted to go home and the movement was very positive in that direction. It was not until the sectarian violence that followed the Samarra mosque bombing that we saw again an outflow.
I'm convinced, and I think from all U.S. policymakers, that when we can create the conditions of stability that people are going to go back and they're going to go home as refugees anywhere in the world do because they want to be back in their communities and with their loved ones and with their families.
As we talked about resettlement during the conference, many countries in the region are very negative on the concept of resettlement because they see resettlement as some sort of a brain drain. We've made it very clear that resettlement to the United States is not based on trying to find the best and the brightest to bring to the United States. It's to identify those who are highly vulnerable for the reasons that we've talked about before, and that we know that the number that will come to the United States will be more than the rest of the world combined because we always take more refugees than the rest of the world combined, but that that number is nowhere near going to address all the people who are outside of their country today. And ultimately, the only solution, the only durable solution, is going to be for people to be able to go home.
QUESTION: I'm from Nepal. My name is Hasta Gurung. I'm a reporter with Nepal Press Institute. You said that you are taking Bhutanese refugees to U.S. very soon, so I'm very interested -- we Nepalese are very interested in how you are taking these Bhutanese refugees to U.S. because it's been big trouble in the (inaudible) there are more than one million number, and the U.S. is taking 60,000 only and leaving --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: No, there are 100,000. There are 100,000.
QUESTION: There are 100,000 and you are taking 60,000 only, and you leaving 40,000 means 40,000 (inaudible). Could you please clarify on this?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Well, I should say since this is focused on Iraq, let me just say that the problems in Nepal are people that have been living in refugee camps for over 15 years, close to 20 years. This is one of the worst long-term, protected refugee situations in the world -- about 100,000 people, children who have been born and raised and never seen anything except a refugee camp. And my bureau started working on -- has been working on this for years, but it was not until we made a commitment to take 60,000 that other countries are also indicating a willingness to take some. And the Government of Nepal sees that this is a good solution, and if we are able between the United States and other resettlement countries to take perhaps as many as 80,000, some probably will be reintegrated or will -- there are already many who are teaching in your schools and who are married to Nepalese students and so this is about as good a solution, I think, as can be found.
MODERATOR: We have one more question. I want to get to your colleague there, okay? Thank you.
QUESTION: Yeah. As you mentioned before about Bhutanese (inaudible) -- my name is Yahsoda Devi Timsina, Nepalese journalist [Kantipur Publications]. As you mentioned before about Bhutanese refugee in Nepal, you know what happened after the U.S. decision to bring them here, they were fighting to Bhutanese Government to go their home. But after the U.S. decision they became in two groups: one group who is able to come to U.S. and another is -- was not able to come to U.S. So they became weak, you know. I think they became weak after the U.S. decision. Do you have any idea how to make them together and fight with their one home country?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: I can only say that the United States has for years and will continue to press the Government of Bhutan to allow people who want to go home to go home voluntarily. But as you know, after close to 20 years, there comes a point in time when how long do you keep people hostage trying to find a political solution? And so again, we will not be in any way cherry-picking. We will be taking people based on a variety of factors of vulnerability and we will be, I think, contributing to a lot of people who have been stuck a long time having an opportunity to start a new life.
In terms of those who want to go home to Bhutan, we will continue to support diplomatically that effort.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
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