is because you can interview for very good reasons the actual students, the soldiers. they said nothing would hurt our cause more than for the standard to be changed. and that all we wanted is to be able to meet to have an opportunity to meet that standard. ..

[applause] when the kansas nebraska act was signed in a team 54 the very act of just signing that piece of paper was viewed as an act of war so when the northerners decided popular sovereignty would decide the fate of kansas that was viewed by many who had assumed this would all be there.

so back and forth across the kansas border almost immediately in 1856, john brown, his son and a couple other followers were dragged from their cabins. that's cleared up that area and. it's whether they attended because the school board did provide all of the same materials that the white schools offered and african-american students attended integrated middle and high schools while they were no supporters of

segregation. they feared the loss of these institutions and the loss of those jobs. it was one of the things that endeared her to the entire nation.

that was going to help sell papers. >> how do you do that and she did. she would move a mountain to make sure that her husband was protected. >> based on the original interviews from the first lady's series part about their lives ambitions, families and part worships the lives of iconic women filled with fascinating women who survived the scrutiny of the white house. first ladies is an illuminating and inspiring read available as a hardcover through your favorite bookseller or online bookseller now a discussion

about the civil war and the resulting crisis over a million libyans have been displaced following the country's 2011 revolution. revolution. the brookings institution hosted this discussion about the effect on the economy and stability. this is an hour and a half. >> good morning everyone.

i'm a senior i am a senior fellow on foreign policy and codirector on internal displacement. for the past 22 years we've been working on internal displacement and i think this is the first time we've organized an event focusing on libya and it predates the attention on the crisis although we will be focusing on that as well. we are going to begin with megan bradley on my left who developed a study she's done a lot of work on displacement reconciliation and a variety of contexts but in my prospective she's almost coming home as a fellow on a project of internal displacement

megan is going to talk about some of the research and then we will turn to the embassy they've worked with you for many years and very different settings but you have been quite visible in the past week or two in respect of that happening in the mediterranean and i hope you that you can put this into a broader perspective.

we also see internal displacement in the country has consequences far beyond the borders of the countries and i think we will be saying that as we hear the panelists discussed today we. we look forward to hearing from you. welcome. tell us about your research. >> it's always nice to come home when the weather is better here than in montréal. i am happy to have the chance to share the results of the recent study on the displacement crisis in libya. this is a forthcoming report i've been working on in the center and the other is the researcher on journalist so i

would like to start by acknowledging the project. the report is focused not just on the flow of migrants across the mediterranean but rather it's focused in particular on the displacement crisis affecting the citizens themselves although they are interrelated dynamics and. to start with the numbers that we look at in the report, i venture many of you would know it is 6.2 million. after the fall of the regime from the 550000 were within the borders and an estimated 660,000 sought shelter and particularly in egypt so this is a sizable

portion in the country. the majority that were operating in the revolution were for the most part able to draw on their own resources and returned to their homes return to their homes relatively promptly after the violence concluded. there was a smaller group of people that ended up in the situation of the so-called distracted displacement so today they still haven't been able to return to their homes. the greatest portion of this population is a group of 40,000 people from the town we. perhaps some of you had followed the details of that case. they were loyal to the involvement in the series of crimes and were committed

against. they attacked the tone and arbitrarily displaced the entire population, so they have referred to this situation as a war crime in and of itself and a crime against humanity. since 2014 there's been an addition to this core group of idp's. there are some 400,000 that are uprooted in the country. it's important to stress after they were pulled out in the summer of 2014 there have been no updated assessments of the

size and characteristics of this population, so 400,000 as a rough estimate. what we do know for sure in the multiple displacement they've been forced from the community is and still return to their home and they have a complete lack of assistance at the moment and they've pushed many of these people into the extreme polar ability to the ongoing violence. >> those that sought shelter at the prompt returns after the conclusion of the revolution and in 2011. we did see a significant portion of the population remained in

exile. many of these individuals are assumed to have a degree of affiliation or loyalty to the regime and this has made them unable to return to the country because of the fear with fratello tory violence so they've never been actively involved in any violence associated in the regime instead this is more a case of guilt by association and the people being labeled by virtue of the family association. it's important to recognize this is that the group that is uniformly in any way responsible for violence or human rights violations. so in addition to this group that has and stayed in stayed in exile for a longer period of time.

it's also into egypt in the summer of 2014. we don't have good numbers on the population and in the summer they suggest that there are 4.5 million the small groups are understood to have residency in the scope of the population because they don't require to enter. we have a situation of people using their own resources to travel. it would globally qualify for the refugee status. so they've become a major host state in the region although they received very little

international support which is something i hope that we will discuss further. it's not just the issue of the asylum-seekers to escape to the shores. this is significantly due to the fact that it is a well resourced country and there's the assumption they may have their own resources to draw to respond to their needs. now it's meant that until now there is a low cost for the european states but this

reliance on the resources is just not attainable. they receive regular pension payments from the government despite the ongoing chaos so they are eating into their own resources. they have protection concerns that money alone cannot results of this means the kind of the left but the situation has received isn't something that can continue to the future. they are trying to live under the radar so they've been generous keeping their borders open and enabling this informal protection and the government

pledged while the violence is ongoing to go to school some are summer able to access medical care as well but it does come at a cost and that is the case here so it's leading to tensions. many that we interviewed for the study reported that they are in fear of the change. there is the need to see how they can better support the policies and capacities to

provide secure or reliable protection to those within their borders and to conclude it's important to talk about resulting the crisis in the manner looking at the conflict resolution and peace building in europe so it's resulting that predicament across the borders. it is their preferred solution to displacement and also the preference of the states in the organizations who are involved.

as it if this becomes protracted, people's preferences and plans can change to have open dialogue in the displaced preferences to make sure their opinions are taken into account. i want to highlight three quick points moving forward in working towards a resolution of the situation. first it is imperative and it goes without saying that it must be voluntary and take care as it is required in the international law itself to talk about the obstacles. we need to think about the

relationship and i'm going to displacement. they've been effectively suspended but there are many lessons that were initiated so the political isolation wall that was instituted is to move forward in the future. it's a sensual to think about how immediate support can be delivered to exile for durable solutions. even though it's not an immediate possibility there are ways that they can be assisted now for the marginalization that is a risk that many people face at the moment.

so this is ensuring the take up the opportunity presented to go to school. this is one small step. in the surrounding trees and further abroad talk about the experience of your country >> unfortunately at the moment and we consider it an internal problem and the very close

relations. we have received over 1 million. most of them rely on their means and cities but we have around 90,000 in the refugee camps. it's better for the process that was painful but they are going through more complex painful forces and right now it's not easy to give figures that we had

an have an estimation of 1 million. most of them are relying on their own ends on their savings, living in good conditions. the convention allows freedom to establish business and to be there like any ordinary citizen. i would start with the good news they come with capital influx and there there's an estimation round 1 billion.

over 1 million south of the population and increased 10%. but it's maybe not to be put but this is a contribution and that has contributed to the rights and plans, hospitals, schools transportation systems but they

could pressure on the subsidies. the situation creates concerns and has taken place and. but we have our homegrown security through the region. the situation is more complex

because when there were the refugees the army doesn't have many assignments. they couldn't could deal with the security or the refugee camps but now the army is quite small and has so many missions and has the task of protecting borders and it doesn't have the same role to play the ticket in 201134 some of the aspects we have. we have third nationals that

started and around 200000 most of them have been adopted in other countries. they come to the conclusion that they have to prepare themselves for the worst. we hope when the fighting intensified after of the new

refugees into a signal that we have to be prepared for any new research. it's not in the same shape as it was in 2011 and to be honest in the humanitarian party there was a willingness of citizens to help but even in geneva itself now they are not in the same kind of attitude so these are

some of the challenges that we are facing but the minimum is to try to work on the measure in the management procedures. as to make thank you very much. it's a pleasure to be here. my conversation will start with three perspectives i will speak to briefly and then as we must look at the neighborhood and then the region. in the case of libya given the

situation of the physical presence is naturally quite constrained which gets to the point that can be offered to some 40,000 as well according to the last count me so we had to withdraw the national staff and we have 30 to 40 and we work to the extent anything can be accomplished and supported and in various neighborhoods because they have family connections and they've been obliged to go at it alone. we work through some international councils that are

able to get things accomplished so we continue to try to keep the presence on the material needs but there are no illusions that there's there is anything significant on our part that is changing the situation in a big way which is the case with the displaced populations that they regrettably find themselves in and it's a more extreme example of that in the current conflict

and internal strife so we watch carefully and optimistically because the secretary of the attorney general found that the political solution apparently this is a slow and complicated process happening in multiple countries dealing with multiple actors and so here again and i think patience is the key and then that's rather sad landscape, tunisia is a pro- reception of asylum and they are grateful for the excellent support that's been provided. in my background i think of lebanon and other countries that have been impacted by the

instability and insecurity and north africa as well as the center of the middle east because there are relationships how it's been protected with the incredible number of refugees and i guess we also have to think about tunisia in a significant way and we can provide a direct support for the relief that they are part of the community integrated in the resources they were able to bring that those resources will

run dry and when that happens we will find that it happened sooner in lebanon because the dramatic quality and when that happens they will suffer more clearly and have a more dramatic impact so we have to already anticipate the exclusion and the fact as you said tanisha already had a revolution receiving tens of thousands of refugees in its territory and dealing with them

in the most hospitable way so they've been looking at the question and advocating for a more proactive approach to develop. it is a middle-income country and isn't eligible for the grants that would come from development agencies like the world bank so we are trying to make the case and this is a very effective platform for doing so as well but it's in the collective interest and we should think about creative ways to help the affected countries

to engage in the structural and lateral development support that we shouldn't have to wait until the crisis of engage more proactively from the get-go with the internships of gdp and so on and with the other important examples where it can be leveraged to provide more support not only to help the countries of the asylum but to

give more space and address the problem critical of the hospitality so there is a more concrete short-term benefits beyond and the punctual support so this is something that we've been pressing for ways to make that happen and there are opportunities in the months to come in the next annual meeting of the world bank and we hope that there will be advocates in the room and elsewhere.

but they are from libya and elsewhere. the third piece i would like to mention is the vacuum of authority into the insecurity and instability create a pathway however risky it may be to transit and make their way is to safer shores and then also for some of the 40,000 so refugees themselves to exit. so we have seen an increase in the outflow and not to conjure up images from years ago but that's what they are and we've seen to tragedy last week that the renter of the risks in doing what they do.

they are forced to flee because of the circumstances. they will transit through such a secure environment and be at the behest of traffickers and they will try to make their way to europe and elsewhere so i hope we can talk about that but i also don't want to abuse my opening time is.

it is very appreciative to make the link. >> may be to start with you we know from other experiences that the longer the protracted situation the less likely they are to go home. >> one issue for example this is going to be a complex protest. it's going to to be all the more complicated because the restitution claims are intertwined for the land

conflicts and allocation of resources at the way of playing different groups and results in very complex overlapping claims to the same properties so in terms of thinking to the future how we can hope to see the future sorted out it's going to be a big part of that. it may seem idealistic at this moment of but the security concerns are obviously paramount >> on the hospitality or the compassion when you step back on

the humanitarian simultaneous crisis and that's everybody i know that is exhausted running from one crisis to another to raise money. they get very little attention and i'm struck by the fact you have this generous reaction to the refugees in the country. >> i think it is complicated [inaudible] overnight the situation will change and they will have a

employment for everybody. they are not there yet. but they have some disillusionment and. >> it wasn't returned.

so there is the general fatigue of the effort that is being made >> one of the issues that they have discussed before but they are benefiting from the subsidies. we cannot limit so they are welcoming the countries. now it is made even worse with

the international community. it receives 5,000 or something. that isn't taking place but they proved even in the interest.

>> the french and the tunisia firm working in cooperation with the foundation this research found interestingly they were asked to identify the top two ways in which they could help respond to the crisis 72% of respondents pick one of the two ways to respond, so i think i'm on the one hand this is a great testimony maintain a generous spirited in this compassion fatigue yet it was split down the line whether they should actually be able to integrate there was the notion of hospitality going further.

>> it's only going to get worse. it's proliferating and there are more conflicts every month. we just declared moving away from this particular region and a level one emergency because of the outflow who would have thought after engaging in the nature programs to suggest the nature of things. there's the more violent conflict.

the emergency lasted six months, not five years. that's why we think that it's important. it cannot sustain this kind of commitment and already we are satisfied. the issues relating to the services and the host countries we can't wait to engage the international community.

they are next to some of these failed states where if there is a risk it needs to be addressed in a proactive way and that requires more than just a few projects. it requires a more sustained structural approach. >> we think that the idea isn't good at we would like to have them integrated we wish them

success and we would have a positive solution in the future >> now we had 1 million refugees but even before the revolution we always found 1 million libyans said they are part of society. this case now it's not a matter of choice. >> they knew that it was an initiative that ended.

>> it was perceived to be a full factor. and now it is pretty clear that in the year that followed the numbers have increased and it should have benefited from europe generally but that's about. it is what it is. now it's focused on the border patrol management. yesterday the council decides to travel the investment and

operation which is a fair reaction of what has been has having especially in the last tragedy most of you should know by now that 900 people or more than i am at 120776 since the beginning of this year. and. germany and sweden have been and

programs of settlement or the humanitarian missions. we've been calling for a more generous approach using sensible visa family reunification resettlement that would allow for more access to safe predictable access via the serial refugees and in particular the european states on a more generalized basis. that unfortunately didn't come out of the european council decision yesterday although there is more movement in that direction. there's a focus on trafficking and smuggling and that is imported but it doesn't provide

an opportunity for the security and safety. >> respect i agree conflict is the main problem here is if you look at the fact that most are being pushed to work now on the informal sector. if you look at the numbers we

have a lot of informal activity so my question for you is when the un looks at livelihoods and crisis and how to deal with refugees how do they deal with this sector pc and constructing economies. and then a quicker question you eluded to the figures and you pointed out it is tied to the regime. in the external reconciliation. in a population that fears to

return what are the models for the. >> if you would seem that it would help people hear better. >> regarding the response of course we see in other settings where the populations are less accessible like somalia and that humanitarian situations use remote control mechanisms working from the neighboring country and local actors to distribute within the country when it comes to proper protection i wonder if you can

talk about the extent of this is being used in the context. >> first someone that has pointed to the flaws i think it is only fair to give credit to the reporting that you have done they have reported on the number of deaths of people trying to flee the horn of africa to europe and other parts of the middle east and the estimates have been two or 3,000 per year so this is since new.

if they had been on four different ships we wouldn't be hearing about it but this isn't new and they've had it in the reporting for several years which leads me to my question into the other panelists have views on this in the libya to their implementing partners have any leverage to influence the most dangerous and abusive practices of the traffickers and similar to that have you had any success raising awareness among the asylum-seekers and migrants before they depart about the safe return of us to reach their

destination. thank you a. >> the question on the relationship of external reconciliation with the trafficking element in the country who would like to begin? >> perhaps indirect response to the question about the labor sector it's not so much in the countries of origin so to speak that we would engage but in the countries of asylum that are trying to get more involved and here the buzzword in the official word is resilient so in

response for the first time and in a very collaborative way hopefully it will be effective in generating the resources. we talked not only about responding to the refugee peace but also resilient for the community putting in place certain activities through the undp and other organizations to respond to the impact of the large numbers of refugees of the services in the host countries. ..

also keeping countries that do provide asylum secure. and so that's i think the first piece. the second, quickly mention is we've never denied that the movements by c.r. mixed whether it's in the caribbean or the red sea or in the east pacific or

for that matter the mediterranean. so there needs to be mechanisms which lack which are lacking in all four examples for identifying people who are indeed in need of international protection and given without according to international and national law on the one hand, and those who are migrants addressing their concerns however that's done, by iom and by the host countries and if it's according to the laws and returning them safely to the points of departure or to their country of origin. those mechanisms are just not in place anywhere frankly, any systematic, coherent and predictable way. so that's why the high commissioner took the initiative last december to have a dialogue, an international dialogue on protection at sea, which was present, which is well-timed in order to begin to have all states think about

well what are the mechanisms that need to be introduced in order to provide those protections come on the one hand, and protect state interests on the other. not that they're mutually exclusive by any means. and just a very quick reply on the remote management for idps. it's a very modest come as indicated that megan had more to say about this. like i said we have our international presence at the tunis. we have national staff in tripoli come in benghazi. we work with ngos both international and national to do what we can. the program is underfunded. access is for a limited, and so there's no pretense that what we are doing anything on the order of the crossline operations or for that matter the cross-border operations as well in the syrian context where other idp emergency situations. and with respect to jeff thank

you very much for your observation. in fact, we have always together with iom spoken about that to the extent that we can count them. we get this information from those guards, so they are not our numbers but we publish them because they are part of the movement of people of concern or potentially of concern. i misquoted the number of deaths on the mediterranean. since january of 1776 so that's a number that i should have more easily remembered. [inaudible] >> 1296 in april of which 900 or so. but the numbers are also not as precise as we pretend. several dozen in the caribbean already this year that we get from the u.s. coast guard, from the bahamian and the turks coast guard as well. so as far as i have to say that my short answer to your question

is, i don't know but they don't think so. i don't imagine that we have relationships as such with traffickers in order to be able to give them some guidance or training on best practice. i just don't, i don't think that that's likely. and similarly, the whole nature of this being as secretive, that it's very hard i'm sure for us to give good advice to refugees or asylum-seekers about the best way to manage this travel. that's why and then i will stop we'll focus on the need for states to introduce structures, transparent repeatable structures that address the needs of asylum-seekers and to give them legal alternatives through creative and flexible visa arrangements, settlement programs humanitarian programs

in order to be able or safe points of departure in order to be able to address their protection needs. >> megan, extra reconciliation? >> thank you for a really interesting question. it's certainly true that historically reconciliation processes transitional processes have tended to be very national rebound so they have been taken into the regional and cross-border dynamics of refugee flows and the ways in which refugees can be as we was in the political silence, spoilers in the context of peace processes which is to say if their needs are not met they can potentially undercut those processes and jeopardize their success. that said, there had been some interesting developments on this front. one of the report co-authors has actually done extensive research on reconciliation and dialogue processes into arab spring

countries, which in some cases have had an international dimension to them. in libya, into libyan case particularly, there have been some individual driven efforts to try to have reconciliation and dialogue with libya and in the diaspora. these processes have alternately been severely criticized by people within libya who are opposed to the notion of reconciliation. there's still i think as we saw in our research strong relevance of this divide between perceived a loyalist and revolutionary. some of the just and the context of the upsurge in violence in 2014 those divides have reduced. what we've seen is that's not so much the case, which is not surprising. the regime was long-standing and the kinds of divides are going to run deep.

the other thing i would say on the question of extra reconciliation processes is we often tend focus on macintosh in terms of formal dialogue, actually having people sit down together around a table in a political process. what i've seen in some of my research is about reconciliation can often be significantly promoted a more informal ways, particularly through reestablishing economic ties for example supporting families to reconnect across borders, communities to reconnect across borders. and these kinds of economically rooted and informal processes can be just as significant if not more significant than the formal political processes. just on the question of remote border, remote management and cross-border operations i think it's important to recognize the libyan red cross has been caring so much of the weight in terms of the response that is

happening to the idp situation and do moving forward perhaps it will be a more to think more seriously about the role of cross-border relief, thinking about the experiences that are taking place in syria, troubled as they have been, but could have some important insights for the libyan case. >> thank you very much. >> on the area of remote border management, that reminds me that we have another category of refugees into nietzsche, diplomatic refugees, including the u.s. embassy, the canadian embassy, so many embassies. thank you for the attention. but to move to more serious issue. it's about this mixture between economic asylum-seekers and humanitarian asylum-seekers. the major flaw we are saying come major problem we are saying that this concentration on the

push factors. we forget about the push factors. obviously, the pushback is catastrophe out of proportion is something we've not seen for so many years. we are speaking about 14 to 15 million idps in the region. you take this opportunity, take this way to try to smuggle themselves into this wave into europe as economic asylum-seekers. but if we deal with the capacity as is, and try to find solutions to it, political solutions as the national security solutions another possibility to offer asylum, then we can really separate between the general humanitarian asylum-seekers and economic asylum-seekers. let's concentrate on the real issue before looking into the pull factor's or into some people are just optimistic --

opportunistic. and i think yesterday i was listening to the npr to the special -- united nations inspector general on refugee issues, i decided the example of the 1970s where countries like canada and the u.s. europe have formally welcomed thousands people from burma, many of these countries in the asia region and it was a successful model. they are now good citizens of these countries. they have their children and universities and they're totally antiquated them and contributed to the economies of these countries. >> let's open it up for another round of questions. yes, please. if you could introduce yourself. >> hello. kirsten from the world bank. thank you very much for this very interesting discussion and for taking up the topic because we've also been feeling that tunisia and the libyan context event that it overshadowed by

other developments. i was having to questions. first question we are reading very different numbers in the news on the number of people waiting in libya to cross the mediterranean. we know that there are migrants their that i mean most of the more mean most of them were working libya had a brief look into -- i think some return and some are still there. then there are some asylum-seekers affair. there were some recognize refugees the unhcr mentioned that i was wondering if anybody had a clear picture of what it's actually happening there? because we read a lot of anecdotal evidence about what's happened in detention centers what's happening in smugglers houses. do we know? because i've read numbers from 1.5 billion, 2 million people waiting, 500,000 waiting to cross, and what is their situation? the other question i would have, we heard a little bit about libyan refugees in tunisia and i was wondering if we have a little bit more information

about the different groups that aren't there and what the economic status and their well being is like? because i guess this information would be very important also for the tunisian authorities to have and have a targeted approach to how to react to these refugees and how to react also a state of the tunisian economy. thank you. >> good questions. the gentleman back there. >> hello. matta wilts the u.s. conference of catholic bishops. and my question is about durable solutions in this situation, and especially in libya and indonesia for the refugees, and idps in those situations. and you of course mentioned that the great hope for the majority, vast majority is to return when there's peace. and certainly the tunisia is very overloaded in terms of

integration for people, local integration. so my question is about resettlement and what will you think it has in this situation both in terms of protecting people and also giving alternatives to the dangerous flight. >> hi. national endowment for democracy. thank you very much. this is a highly timely panel. maybe even overdue. i have two questions. first, understanding the constraints and limitations of working with idps inside libya. specifically those that are coming out of the city of in gaza which is been under heavy bombardment for almost the past year. -- benghazi. what kind of services are being provided to the idps the shoulder by libyan president or other international organizations?

secondly a lot of the discussion is about tunisia, and that's great. what about the situation of libyan outflow, you know the refugees that are in egypt, turkey jordan other host countries? if you have more context about that, that would be good to know as well. thank you. >> one last question in the back. >> i am secretary of embassy of egypt here. i am a familiar -- situation in tunisia. i have posted before the libyan from 2009-2012 and have participated in the evacuation of hundreds and thousands from refugees in south of tunisia from egyptians and from certain nationalities. actually i don't have to question. i have a comment to shed light on the situation in egypt about the libyans that are there. the number of the libyans who are only libyans they are not

libyan egyptians, you are talking about 700000 libyans only. it for the revolution that were used to half-million libyans that are living in egypt. also now there are no campus in egypt for refugees. all of these people they are living, they have houses and they have services for their son in universities and schools. there's not any problem for them and they are used -- some services. withwe have similar problem like the tunisia in relation to the outside that we couldn't -- [inaudible] to only egyptians and at the same time that hud is to receive really big numbers of arab refugees from other countries not only libya, that we received after the war in iraq that was

around a quarter million iraqis that are living in egypt, and now we have 350000 syrian come with a number of the libyans and we used to have 1 million sudanese. all of this is egypt is suffering internally from economic problems and we still suffering with increasing the intensity of the problem of the refugees from arab countries, i could tunisia. actually a little bit similar situation. but problem for us actually we have humanitarian and economic problem, and as mentioned it is very important for us, the security. after the revolution, again many libyans, some of them supporters of gadhafi and some of them supporters of the revolution against gadhafi came to egypt and they have

sometimes represented like security threat in egypt because they are used to fighting and shopping malls sometimes in the streets using armies. not only is this a very big number amounts of more than the smoker from libya to egypt after the revolution. don't forget a very big number of extremists -- [inaudible] in eastern part of libya. also had a big challenging for egypt. maybe you heard about incident that happened last year, the end of last year egyptian border guards when a group of them were assassinated by terroristic groups coming from libya. so those are complicated, highly

complicated for us not only in egypt not a only humanitarian and economy, the security and terrorists as i mentioned come is very important for us. that's all. i have tried only to shed light on the situation in egypt. thank you very much. >> i think it illustrates how complex these patterns of displacement our combat overtime with a different groups in different countries, economic security and humidity concerned certainly not an easy issue. for the manilow suites and difficult questions. how many are waiting to cross? different groups of libyan refugees. where are we with a durable solution, resettlement and immigration and so forth? what kind of service are being provided to idps in benghazi and elsewhere? i think which is have some response on the egypt question. the first question that it's to choose which question to answer. >> i will try to enter the first question about the different groups and particularly in tunisia.

where i think we can not come really with precise number first maybe from 1 million to 1,800,000. margin is very very why do. we not have precise figures and no clear answers. since you're from the lower bank, this is one issue to discuss with the world bank and they're going to undertake comprehensive study about the impact on the economy of the libyans in tunisia. but let me try to say something about these groups. i think most of them come most libyans in tunisia are from the middle class. they do not for the moment have any financial problem. it is some kind of gap in wealth, but you could maybe detect by the town of residents of libyans. the more you move north, the richer you are. those who are not well off will

stay near the border. little more rich, i would go -- those who are rich enough to tunis in particular. but that does not mean there are some who have financial deficiencies in the problems of schooling problems of getting access to the health system. the other thing about political affiliation, if you like it there is no money in tunisia but we have seen some minor attention between different libyans in tunisia. fortunately, it was contained and they think, but maybe most of them are pro-gadhafi citizens but we didn't have any kind of idea about that. but we've seen some kind of tension that was contained in a that gives ideas to the possibilities of external reconciliation.

but we managed to contain the tension between libyans and i don't think there are any problems. sometimes very minor incidents, but totally under control. thanks to libyans themselves. they are behaving properly. >> my answer will be short. i don't know. i don't know. i don't know the answer your maybe somebody else does in the room about how many potential folks there are that will leave by boat. i just don't know. there may be some estimates out there but i just don't happen to know them. as far as the level of assistance, i think i animated that -- intimated. is inadequate to its focus on some nonfood items to those who can get access. i mean come we always try to provide protection, support for children who are impacted,

women, specific groups that might have their stories and need counseling. but, you know, i can't pretend that is more than it is. partly that's a function of access, partly it's a function of resources. certainly not a function of will, and make an correctly said, i intimated before that we rely on national ngos as well and that's first and foremost the libyan red crescent. we also support for folks who have been returned or intercepted by the libyan coast guard or maybe and brought back within brought to detention centers where the conditions are not good and we have provided some individual support to them in collaboration with the international medical corps. so these are what we can do.

i think the bottom line is that, in fact, it's true the situation has not benefited from the level of media public and donor attention as much as it should, which relates to my point about bandwidth and financial resources. and so to the extent that the world bank and tunisia are in communication, may want to think about what flexible creative options there might be. i draw attention here as well to the fact that when we did go to the syrian refugee appeal, i mentioned we had in our refugee response plan and element on resilience to support the host committee. there were chapters in that appealed that were crafted by both the jordan and lebanon to speak to their needs as far as services and infrastructure

support in a bigger way. that might be a useful reference as well for tunisia. that's question with respect to resettlement i think is quite timely. and, frankly, her too i must admit that i don't know the answer. i do know what the realistic prospects are would be for processing out but it would fall within the framework of giving especially for europe and organized legal alternative to receive refugees who are now in trouble in libya. and we have nationalities. we have syrian refugees. of course, they are about half as would able to estimate and be in contact with them of the 40,000 or so refugees, but they are also as i mention eritrean refugees. let me just mention some of the other nationalities that we've

got. the are palestinian refugees from eritrea, iraq, somalia and sudan among other nationalities on an individual basis. >> anything else on solutions? >> well on the question of resettlement i think when we reflect on the relevance of this opportunity for libyans, we have to recognize that a globally 1% of refugees access the settlement so the numbers already very little. the vast majority ethics of libyans are not registered as refugees. couldn't even begin to contemplate resettlement would have to be a real shift in the approach to start with a much more comprehensive registration process that could identify who is most in need of resettlement given that it's now quite understood that resettlement opportunity should be provided as a protection tool. it's also important to recognize that the settlement would be a very limited access if any, to

idps. so sometimes we can to focus on resettlement and they can detract attention from the larger numbers of people who are trapped within their own countries and who will never have an opportunity to participate in that process. on the durable solutions question i would also just stress it's important recognize in a case like this that so-called durable solutions are not going to mean an end to mobility. so as a participant from the egyptian embassy pointed out and also kais darragi indicated, there are long-standing libyan communities in egypt and indonesia to give up historically move very freely absolutely across those borders and that kind of movement will be a part of what a durable solution to this situation looks like. so we shouldn't expect that all of this and we'll have a more

sedentary dynamic in the region. people will continue to engage in mobility as part of their livelihood strategies and their way of life. in terms of the question on the economic status and well being of libyans in tunisia, it's great to hear that a state is being contemplated that would look at those issues from a quantitative perspective. the qualitative research that we did for this study certainly can't be generalized to the whole population but did underline that while the majority of exiled libyans are indeed middle-class, there are people who are facing real impoverishment and who are being pushed to engage in what we might call negative coping strategies to do with that reality. so it's important we not lose sight of that population and the particular protection concerns that they have. >> i want to thank all the panelists. these are complex issues.

beyond the statistics and the description and the terminology, our real-life human beings were caught up in conflict who are filling up with allies, who are scared and four. i think these discussions come just remember these are people that we're talking about and that they a series needs. thanks to our panelists, megan bradley, shelley and turn 11. join me in thanking them. [applause] -- and turn 11. -- mr. darragi. [inaudible conversations] >> the u.s. senate is about to gavel in to start their day. and out of the remarks in general speeches of the first. the senate will recess at

10:30 a.m. eastern so lawmakers can walk to the house chamber for today's joint meeting. later today we expect more work on the iranian nuclear negotiations oversight bill. now live to the senate floor it on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal god, enthroned above all other powers, thank you for the masterpiece of another day. lord, our hearts ache because of the pain in our world.

we see the anger , the violence, the death, the tears, and the despair. forgive us when we forget that you are still in control of our planet and that the hearts of humanity are in your hands. lord help us to remember that your power is far above any conceivable command, authority or control. as our lawmakers strive to contribute to peace in our time, bless those who support them in their work. help us all to trust you without

wavering. we pray in your strong name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: yesterday we were re-mooned yet again of iron'siron's determination to use every element of national power to expand its sphere of influence and undermine international law. what we saw in the strait of hormuz simply undermines the danger posed by iran along with a pressing need for a clear-eyed understanding of the iranian threat. it's appropriate then that the senate will resume consideration of the bipartisan iran nuclear agreement review act later today. i encourage members to come to the floor offer amendments, and work with the floor managers to schedule votes. we voted on one amendment to this bipartisan bill. i am a sure we'll take votes on several more significant amendments before the week is up. now on a different matter, later this morning we'll welcome an important friend of the united states to the capitol shinzo

abe, japan's prime minister. i'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. i know many of my colleagues feel the same way. because prime minister abe doesn't just lead one of the most important countries and economies in the asia pacific region; he leads one of the most important countries and economies in the entire world. abe has proposed to tackle some tough structural problems other leaders in his country might not touch. but he knows the japanese people can be persuaded to reward their leaders for taking risks. abe previously served in the cabinet of a free market prime minister who grabbed hold of economic third rails of japanese politics and then rolled to a landslide victory when others counted him out. perhaps that's why abe feels liberated to pursue initiatives of his own. abe has proposed structural reforms and on the international

front, abe has worked to enhance the role and influence of democratic knacks like the nations in the asia pacific. just this week he signed important agreements with the u.s. on both cybersecurity and defense. this all serves to underline the enduring importance of the u.s.-japan alliance. it also reminds us that the obama administration must do its part too by investing in the platforms and capabilities needed to make its announced pivot to raich shah real. that's the only way to both bolster democratic nations like japan in the region while also effectively countering china's aggressive encroachment on the territorial and and a half gigsal right of its neighbors. trade is another important way to advance our common values and strengthen our national security and economy. for years japan and the u.s. had a difficult trading relationship. today, though, u.s. and japanese negotiators actually appear

close to reaching an agreement that could significantly lower existing barriers to trade benefiting both of our economies. that breakthrough is being negotiated as part of the trans-pacific partnership a trade agreement between pacific nations like japan australia and the u.s. that would help ensure the region and the world play by fair rules instead of ceding the fields to an increasing aggressive china. the trans-pacific partnership could also, according to one recent estimate, support up to nearly a quarter of a million additional jobs in the u.s., including more than 50,000 american jobs in the manufacturing sector alone. but american and kentucky workers and farmers will never be able to reap the rewards of selling more "made in america" goods to the pacific until congress passes the bipartisan trade promotion bill. passing that bipartisan legislation is key to enhancing

congress' role in the trade process while simultaneously ensuring presidents of either party -- because this is a six-year t.p.a., it will apply to the next president -- presidents of either parties have the tools they need to secure strong and enforceable trade agreements for american workers. the bill recently passed the finance committee on an overwhelming bipartisan vote, and i intend to take it up once we complete action on the iran nuclear agreement review act. but for now let me just say again that congress is pleased to have the prime minister join us today. we thank prime minister abe and his country for their enduring friendship. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i am grateful for the work done yesterday and during the entire process of working toward an agreement on the important iran legislation. senators corker and cardin have

done a magnificent job. they're both good managers, and i would suggest to everyone that is concerned about amendments that they should come appeared talk to the two managers before -- come and talk the two managers before they lay down their amendments. there is a process for moving the amendments forward. it's been pretty well articulated by both senator cardin and corker. we know there are difficult issues with this bill, and that's what -- some of the things that we do here is work on difficult issues. not always but some of the time. and i would just note, mr. president senator mcconnell and i we love our jobs. we realize how important things are that we work on, but once in a while we take a minute and talk about one of our hobbies and that's watching baseball. and because we're back here and have been for sometime, we've

been focused recently on the nationals. and they've -- they started off in a very bad fashion losing -- they were last night in the process of a six-game losing streak and they brought in a pitcher because of their star was injured. he gave up nine runs in two innings. i think we were going to acknowledge that they were going to lose their seven straight, but they won the game 13-12. i admire the tenacity of the republican leader because he watched the end of the game. i couldn't do that. i tried but at the beginning of the ninth inning, they had given up more runs and they were behind one out so i said, i'm going to go to bed. so they won. we had a good laugh talking about the game today that they won, and as i indicated i'm

sorry i didn't get to watch the last of the game. i decided that i didn't have enough faith in the team. i went to bed. mr. president, on a totally different subject budgets should be about reality not ideology. the reality of america today is that our middle class is being pushed to the edge of extinction. that's the truth. while there is an over-abideing, widening gap between the rich and the poor, as i've said, i'll continue to say the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting much poorer. but perhaps the most brutal reality is that congress is not doing its job and the real brutal reality is that congressional republicans don't even seem to care. in the very near future, the senate is expected to consider the conference report on the republican budget resolution.

it's a budget that is irresponsible and immoral. it's a budget based on the failed ideology of a political party out of touch with america's middle class. a political party that is out of touch with reality. it amounts to an all-out attack on working families, an attack designed to protect only the interests of millionaires, billionaires and many special interests. the republican budget would deprive more than 16 million americans of their health insurance. it allows big insurance companies to once again discriminate against women. it would cause people who have disabilities not to be -- unable to get insurance like it used to be before obamacare came into being. it threngtses the coverage of hardwork -- it threatens the coverage of hardworking americans who lose their jobs because of preexisting conditions. the budget proposed by my republican friends would also make deep cuts to medicare at

the expense of our nation's seniors. it would raise taxes on working americans by allowing expansion of the earned-income tax credit and allows the child tax credit to simply expire, go out of existence. it would end key supports to young help americans afford college, it at a time when student debt is higher than credit card debt. we tried to resolve it on the senate floor but republicans vote unanimously no. they're not going to cut parents and that's young men and women who have this debt, they're cutting them no slack. this budget would undermine job training and certainly at a time with we need it with the changing technology that creates jobs this -- undermining this job training for americans who are systemly trying to better -- simply trying to better themselves and get a good job or a better job. meanwhile, republicans refuse to close a single tax loophole to

real estate duce the deficit. not one. -- to reduce the deficit. not one. they won't close loopholes for wealthy hedge fund managers, they won't do away with tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. republicans are attacking the middle class and they're attacking it forcefully. while protecting the super-wealthy. the budget is just wrong. it's also dishonest. it claims to be balanced. there is no balance in this budget. that's a word. the budget is no more balanced than the earthquakes they've had in nepal. it claims to reach balance but the claim is laughable based on gimmicks and massive cuts that are left unspecified. and when you have editorials from magazines like "forbes," a conservative magazine, denigrating the republican budget you know it's wrong. one of the worst aspects of this budget is that it uses sequestration to undermine america's middle class to underfund the investments need to for our future.

let's talk about sequestration for a minute. these automatic cuts -- the example is national institutes of health. mr. president, it becomes very personal when you see these issues that face americans: diabetes the flu. the presiding officer is a physician specializes in eyes. but the flu kills tens of thousands of people in america every year. and the n.i.h. was on the verge of a universal vaccine for flu any type of flu. and, as we know, what they do know they try to find ute what the flu is going to be, the variety of flu and then they try to mix and match. last year that was effective less than 50%. so you got the flu shot, 60% of people who got the flu shot are

going to get the flu anyway. but because of sequestration they had to drop that. they've never got than money back $1.6 billion. i mentioned eyes. i've become very concerned about eyes in the last couple months, and there are all kinds of programs at n.i.h. that could be funded much better dealing with problems like i have. so mr. president, it is simply wrong that they're going to go forward with this sequestration. it's really wrong. it was never intended to be implemented. it was designed with cuts so deep and so stupid that congress would never let them happen. my republican colleagues let them happen. republicans recognize the sequestration poses a threat to our national security, and their budget uses a gimmick. i'm not calling it a gimmick. i'm not alone. we have republicans the junior senator from tennessee is

talking about he won't support the budget because he thinks there are some gimmicks in that, and many editorials have been written using that term over and over again. their budget is not balanced. it uses gimmicks to pretend. they do everything in this budget to protect the pentagon, but they really don't because it's phony. they use he overseas contingency fund which everybody knows is phony. so they want to help the military, i want to help the military also. but sadly the republican budget does absolutely nothing to provide similar protections for the middle class. there is, however some good news about the republican budget and it's this. the republican budget isn't worth the paper it's written on. it's going to go nowhere. there's no chance of actually the budget being implemented. president obama and congressional democrats are

committed to the middle class so we're not going to let it happen. the administration made very clear that president obama is not willing to lock in sequestration in any appropriations bill or in anything else. in a statement of administration policy the forerunner of a veto here's what was said. the president's senior advisors would recommend that he veto any legislation that implements the current republican budget framework. close quote. will the president accept fixes to defense without also fixing non-defense budget items? for president obama, it is simply a matter of principle. congressional democrats fully agree with his republican leader. so the -- agree with his principle. the republican budget isn't going anywhere. if republicans insist on moving appropriations bills based on that budget, it is a waste of time. it will not happen. we will not let that happen. what we need is a budget that's based in reality a budget

that's fair to the middle class fair to the american people. a budget that will only happen when republicans abandon their extreme attacks to the poor and middle class and sit down and talk to us about the way forward. mr. president, i note no one is seeking the floor. would the chair announce the business of the day. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will be in a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and with the time equally divided in the usual form. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. reid: i would consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i would note the absence of a quorum and i ask unanimous consent that the time be charged equally between the majority and minority. the presiding officer: without objection. quorum call:

quorum call: