20 June 2003
Armitage Recognizes World Refugee Day
(Underscores U.S. support for international refugee programs) (1080)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says that
international recognition of World Refugee Day June 20 is a
celebration of the human spirit and "the triumph of hope and that
faith in the future that lives inside all of us."
Speaking at a Washington event bringing together refugees, dignitaries
and celebrities, Armitage emphasized U.S. support for the U.N. Refugee
Agency. He said the United States is the largest donor to the world's
foremost refugee advocacy agency, and this year alone has contributed
$250 million to the international effort to aid those uprooted from
their homelands.
Following is the transcript of Armitage's remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
June 20, 2003
Remarks by Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage
Commemoration of World Refugee Day
National Geographic Society
Grosvenor Auditorium
Washington, D.C.
June 20, 2003
(10:00 a.m. EDT)
DEPUTY SECRETARY ARMITAGE: Thank you. Good morning. Terry, thank you
very much for that introduction, and thanks to all of you and to all
of your colleagues at National Geographic for acting as host of this
year's commemoration of World Refugee Day.
To be born with beauty is a stroke of genetic luck, but to act with
beauty is a matter of personal choice. So it is my honor today to
stand alongside someone who brings new meaning to the term "beautiful
actress." Whether she is representing the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees in Sri Lanka or Kenya or Tanzania or Kosovo, Angelina Jolie
speaks to the subject of refugees with professional clarity and a
deeply personal commitment.
And while there are those who might tell you that fame is a burden, I
think it is fair to say that Ms. Jolie sees it as an opportunity - an
opportunity to help the most helpless among us, the 21 million people
who walk the earth in a desperate flight from persecution and from
fear.
It is a life most of us here today cannot even begin to imagine, but
Nargiz Alizadeh can. She will have a chance in just a moment to tell
you her own story of the dangerous journey that took her from
Afghanistan, around the world, to a new home in San Diego. But I
believe that you will find in her experience, and that of other young
people featured in the photographs out in the lobby to which Terry
referred, what you'll find is something that we can all understand and
so many of us share, and that is a simple desire of any parent to see
a better life and brighter future for our children.
So today we gather together for the world's refugee children to
highlight not so much the misery of their lives, but the chain of
consequence that links us all together. Indeed, it is not just the
tragedy of hunger and homelessness that ultimately defines even the
most desperate experience, but the triumph of hope and that faith in
the future that lives inside all of us. And so we have really come
together today in a celebration of that human spirit.
But I think we all recognize that it will take more than hope to see a
better future for refugee children. It will take action from the
nations and organizations that make up the international community. To
the United States, that means helping those who have fled their homes,
or helping those who have fled their homes to return safely and with
dignity, or providing those unable to return home with a new home.
But it also means making a firm commitment to the UNHCR, and, indeed,
we are proud to be the single largest donor, as well as an
extraordinarily strong supporter. This year alone, your government has
already contributed more than $250 million in support of UNHCR
programs, including in Afghanistan, where the UNHCR helped repatriate
more than 2 million refugees last year and will help again with the
many thousands more expected this year. The United Nations High
Commissioner of Refugees is also getting ready for the hundreds of
thousands of refugees who will return home to Iraq, where they no
longer need to fear repression, disappearance or torture for their
faith, their ethnicity or their beliefs. In Africa, the UNHCR is
assisting some 3 million refugees - as well as one million more who
are internally displaced or seeking asylum - repatriating them if
possible, or caring for them in camps and resettling them elsewhere if
necessary. Everywhere in the world where refugees and others are
forced to roam, the staff of the UNHCR is there, often in difficult
circumstances and in dangerous situations, offering people who have
lost everything both help and hope.
These brave individuals remind us that while the commitment of nations
and of organizations is certainly important, we, each one of us, must
make a commitment, as well, to help as we can with countless acts of
beauty. And so I congratulate our poster winners for the donation they
have made of their time and their talent, but also for the
demonstration of empathy for their peers, which I suspect will
motivate many who see this work to make contributions of their own.
Gifts of such personal generosity are important not just in a global
context, wherever persecution, hunger and conflict drive people from
their homes; they're also important in the local context here in our
own country. We are, after all, a nation of refugees. Immigration and
the renewal it brings have always been a key source of strength for
this country. Indeed, how we treat each other and the newcomers who
keep our nation so vibrant will ultimately shape the future for our
own children here at home.
So I want to thank the National Geographic and the UNHCR for giving us
the opportunity to celebrate that human spirit and the brighter future
we want to see for all of our children. In particular, I would like to
thank Ms. Jolie, Ms. Alizadeh and those of you who designed posters.
Today you are serving as ambassadors for the world's refugees, but in
effect you are also serving as ambassadors for all Americans. Because
today you are helping to show the best that our refugee nation, with
all its variety and all its heartfelt values, has to offer the world
in both hope and in human potential.
Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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