The millions of people displaced from their homes, regions and even countries was the central focus of a congressional hearing Thursday held by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), chairman of the Africa and global human rights subcommittee. 

    The U.S. State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and two human rights non-government organizations (NGOs) testified about the dire situations in Africa, where more than a quarter of all of the world’s displaced persons struggle to survive.

    “The terrible plight of African refugees has been much in the news in recent months because of the death of thousands trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea and attacks on refugees in South Africa reportedly caused by xenophobia,” Smith said. “Internally displaced persons also face serious challenges. In Nigeria, for example, more than 1.5 million people from northeastern Nigeria have fled attacks by Boko Haram and resulting Nigerian military activities. 

    "The United States and the rest of the international community face serious challenges in addressing the displacement of so many people,” said Smith, noting that the highest U.N. official charged with handling refugee issues has said international response capacities are overstretched by the never-before-seen rise in refugees. “We must carefully consider the U.S. role in meeting the increasing challenge of Africa’s displaced people, taking into consideration our moral imperative to help those in need, as well as strategic interests in preventing the kind of neglect that makes terrorist recruitment among displaced people easier than it should be.” Click here to read Chairman Smith’s testimony 

    At Smith’s Congressional hearing entitled “Africa’s Displaced People,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Catherine Wiesner, who heads the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration noted that the hearing fittingly coincides with South Sudan’s independence day, but not in celebration of its long civil war being resolved, but because the country is home to “one of the most severe humanitarian crises in Africa today.” She cited a series of other crises on the continent in addition to the Sudanese refugee situation.

    “Burundi is the newest emergency, but the list of countries in crisis in Africa remains long: Nigeria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Mali, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Libya,” Wiesner said. “And for each of these countries embroiled in war or chronic instability, there are two, three, even four or more neighboring countries affected by streams of refugees; and sometimes the violence that caused them to flee seeps across borders as well.” Click here to read Wiesner’s written testimony.

    Thomas H. Staal, Acting Assistant Administrator at the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance within the U.S. Agency for International Development, stated that in Mali and Nigeria, governments are struggling against violent extremism, South Sudan is mired in a spiral of brutal violence and retribution that has left more than two million people displaced, hungry, and terrorized, and ongoing political unrest in Burundi has caused 150,000 people to flee to neighboring countries. Today’s crises are compiled on longtime instability in Somalia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

    “Today, we are grappling with the largest global displacement in recorded history,” Stahl said. “Nearly 60 million people have been uprooted from their homes, fleeing across borders as refugees or within their own countries to escape rampant violence, persecution, and destruction. More than half of all refugees are children, too many of whom have had their innocence stripped away after suffering abuse, seeing parents or relatives killed, or leaving their homes in the chaotic fog of war.” Click here to read Stahl’s written testimony.

    John Stauffer, President of The America Team for Displaced Eritreans, a small US-based nonprofit that assists refugees and asylum seekers from the country of Eritrea in northeast Africa, spoke to the congressional panel about Eritrean citizens fleeing to Sudan and Ethiopia.“Eritrea is a police state, often referred to as the ‘North Korea of Africa,’ he said. “On June 8th of this year, the U.N. Human Rights Council released a 480-page report on human rights offenses conducted in the country since independence in 1993. It is no wonder that, as a consequence of those conditions, thousands of citizens–mostly young people and often unaccompanied children–flee the country every month.”

    Also testifying was Ann Hollingsworth, Senior Advocate for Government Relations, Refugees International, (RI) which does not accept any government or United Nations funding, which RI says allows its advocacy to be impartial and independent. She spoke about Chad’s refugees coming from Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Central Africa Republic. “There are currently 360,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad, struggling to survive in a harsh environment with few opportunities available for them or for their host communities,” Hollingsworth said, noting that Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world, ranking 184th out of 187 countries in the U.N. Human Development Index. “Humanitarian funding has not kept pace with historic levels of demand worldwide,” Click here to read Hollingsworth’s testimony.

    Natalie Eisenbarth, Policy & Advocacy Officer, International Rescue Committee, testified and focused on South Sudan and Central African Republic in particular. “Displacement – whether in one’s own country or across borders – leaves affected persons particularly vulnerable to economic shocks, at risk of human rights violations, without access to basic services, and often puts their physical safety in jeopardy,” she said. “Uprooted from jobs, schools, social networks, service providers, and the other things we all rely on for our physical and emotional well-being, internally displaced persons and refugees often rely on the care of family, friends, voluntary service organizations, and, in some cases, the international community to meet their basic needs.” Click here to read read Eisenbarth’s testimony.