also an intentional way to displace syrian population. this is a form of collective punishment, and i don't even know if i should talk about international law because there's so many violations. whether recent or historic, of our international law, that just keep happening and the regime is empowered to continue its violations, and now russia's intervention only further emboldened and empowers the regime. so, i'm going to conclude with this. there's no solution to the refugee crisis without a primary focus on civilian protection. civilian protection, civilian protection, that means a no-fly zone, safe zone. some area where civilians can stay within syria and be protected from the constant aerial bombardment of the regime and of russia. there has to be a political

transition. with assad in power, there is no -- you cannot reclaim legitimacy, he cannot create the chaos and destruction and death, missing persons and torture, and reclaim legitimacy in syria. that's nonstarter. has to be a political transition. assad has to go. we feel right now, the international community feels, that our solution is, let's give money, more money to the regional countries to keep hosting these refugees. let's go through these peace talks that really are stalled peace talks. nobody knows where they're going, where they're coming, what's going to happen tomorrow, what does it mean at the end? and we're also talking about resettling minuscule, minuscule numbers of refugees. not trying to minimize the fact we need to do this. but that is not going to be a solution. unless we focus on civilian protection. there will be no solution to the

refugee crisis. i do have the coalition for democratic syria, we have put together a policy paper called syrian refugees, an intentional product of assad's war. our policy director is here if anybody wants a copy, please feel free to take one. thank you so much. [applause] >> hello. i want to thank peter and david, new america, for having me here. as peter said, i'm syrian. been raised in syria, almost all my life. i got the good evening lisch because i was -- english because i was fortunate enough to know taylor swift, and backstreet boys also helped.

i was -- i had a normal life for a kid, but i was kind of -- well, since i was 12. my dad was one of the leaders of the nonviolent movement in syria for the '60s so kind of runs in the blood. when the revolution started back in 2011, i was a senior in college, doing science and banking, but like with everything going on in the middle east, there was no question what to do at that time. because of my good evening lisch, -- -- i was watching fox news, cnn, and telling them what is going on, why people are risking their lives, which led at some point for me to be detained by the government. i survived the first time it's

hard to describe being in assad's prison but it's just something inhuman. and then the second time, i also barely survived it. there was -- then there was the question shy -- should i say here oar leave? the government didn't give me a choice. ten days later they tried to arrest me a third time. so i managed to escape, and when i escaped, they tried to kidnap my 17 years old little brother. so at point i felt like this is not only about myself but it's also about protecting my family. for some time we hid in some place out of the city of damascus, and then decided to leave because the government kept asking about us. so we left with only me and my 17 years old brother.

lebanon was different. relatively it's safer than syria, although it's still hard. the risk of the militia all around. and also the syrian government invaded lebanon for 30 years, so even people who are support the revolution here, they -- they got 30 years with syrians so wasn't really helpful. so we stayed there for six months, and then we have to leave to egypt because i wanted to get my brother back to high school, because we left when he was graduation from high school. so had to do his high school. so we left to egypt, where i said put him in high school but at the same time the egyptian government didn't allow me to have residency, even tourist residency, because i'm a youth, syrian, politically involved in syria. so i had to leave the country

every three months to be able -- to be legally in egypt, leave and come back. at that time my mom would come and go to egypt, take care of my brother when i'm not there, and then later on in january, 2013, the government went to our house and wanted to arrest my other brother. my mom was in egypt at the time. so there was no choice really for her to get back. my brother escaped to the suburbs of damascus, and then -- i mean, at that time, still at that time when i was in lebanon or egypt with my family, we were only thinking it's going to be like this year or the next and then life will be back home. it will be different. everything will be change. but at that point when, like, especially 2013, politically everything was getting depressing, nothing is really changing, international community for us is syrians was

naturally helping -- was not really happening so i was in a program called leaders for democracy, and i got here. when i first got to the program i was deciding whether i should stay or not, and the question kept in my mind, was the same question the asylum officer asked me, in my asylum interview. all was going in my mind that back when the revolution started, a couple weeks before we had anything like local activist, we were thinking -- someone actually asked why would we ask people to come out to the streets to demonstrate for freedom and democracy if we know that assad's government is going to shoot people and it's going to kill then. i was the youngest and i was

like, simply because the international community would not allow this to happen. international community would not allow innocent out in the street demanding freedom and democracy to be just killed without pressuring assad at that too item make reforms. -- at that time to make reforms. that's why i decided my mission is to talk to the media to bring that image. so no one would say that we don't know what is going on in syria, and we didn't know what happened. but back then, when two years after i realized it's not happening, i want to go back to my country, i but i don't see it in the future, and wherever you go, it's -- like part of the process, when i started applying for asylum, any refugee applying for resettlement, the only

difference is i'm here, i'm allowed to work after seven months of applying for asylum but nothing else is different really. i'm still attending -- whenever i ask -- some people are too polite to tell me -- a number of refugees, some people are too -- tell me that any syrian arabs, is a potential terror threat. him a single male with relatives back in syria, so i'm a huge -- just someone working with the red badge on my head, saying terrorist. but the main reason for me to come here is, yeah, i don't want to be labeled like that just because i hold this passport because this who is i am. i'm still syrian. i cannot change that. and i will still be. but, yeah, i didn't want to be

labeled wherever i go just because of this house people think about syrians. i remember the asylum officer asked me also, why did you choose to come sneer why didn't you stay in the middle east? and actually i was answering the question as -- for 50 years, here in the country, we're born -- born and live in this atmosphere. we don't really feel what freedom means. we don't really feel calm, being able to walk around and express yourself, express what you believe, and tell who you are, without actually looking back or watching your back or watching around, seeing if anyone is listening to you. anyone from intelligence would try to arrest you. this means a lot. and for us, as syrian, like for many -- when the revolution started, we started this because we wanted the same thing.

the wanted the american dream. not the american dream to have the fancy car or the fancy houses. a lot of -- i mean in syria, before 2005 at least, economically things were really good. to be honest, if you worked hard enough, it's not that hard to find a job or to make a living, to get married to manage to get a house. the social environment was really supportive, but was is so horrible is you're not able to breathe. you cannot express yourself. you express yourself -- you're not able to have what you have here. this is the american dream was for me. but when i was in lebanon or egypt, you still looked down as like a third-class citizen or world citizen because you're syrian. in egypt, you're allowed to work. still under the table.

no one is watching. and jordan you're not allowed to work. to get furor in jordan working you'll be sent back not to the refugee camp but they will actually put you on the syrian border. you have to go back to all the killing and all the barrel bombs. and this is as a syrian, coming here and living all of that, it was hard at the beginning, like, feeling legally it's like -- it felt the same as being in the middle east. i'm still -- thousands of refugees for them to get a path to a safe haven where they can think about their future and can attempt college actually, they can get a small -- start a small business or get a small job or do things, do something for their kids in the future, or they can actually even get married and have kids, but when

you're in limbo, and the refugee camps -- easier for asylum seekers here you. don't know if you'll be accepted or able to live your life here, but still i had the feeling when i got here that these things doesn't really matter because i'm living -- doesn't matter as much because i'm living these thing is dreamed of, i can come here and speak to you've about what is happening, about what i feel, and a lot of people -- when i first come here, i was speaking at princeton university, and someone came to me after the panel, kept saying, our american history, our government, and at this time i was speaking the obvious, telling, like, our history as a nation, as a nation of refugees, who we are and what made us a great nation, and he was like you're still syrian, you're not even american.

and at the time it's my -- i might not have the green card or the i.d. that says i'm an american, but actually being an american is not about only about having papers that says you're american. being an american is being able to live this freedom to be able to express yourself. to be able to speak. to be able to live freely without interference. that is what being american is for me. thank you. [applause] >> thank you all for those brilliant presentations. if you have a question, raise your hand and wait for the mic and also identify yourself because we need that for the c-span. so if anybody has a question, raise their hands. no questions.

>> at the very much. i'm ali with the west asia council. the question has to do with the parallel goals of the removal of bashar al-assad on the one hand and looking of the vast needs of millions of refugees on the other. which one do you think takes precedence in which one is more important? and should one wait for one to happen for the other to be possible? thank you. >> i can maybe address that a little bit. had a study about the syrian refugees in europe and they asked them would you go back took syria now if assad stayed in power? and the majority said, no. so, for that reason -- starting the process of resettling the syrian refugees in syria, you have to have a political resolution of the conflict

without assad being in the picture. of course, as we know, based on historic background, most of the refugees, even in the crisis now, going to take them 15 to 20 years to go back to syria. many of the villages are completely destroyed. so you have to couple that with the process that is focused on developing the neighboring countries and integrating refugees, providing them with health care, with work, with education, more than 80% of syrian children in lebanon and jordan and turkey are not getting secular education. so ten years from now we'll have a generation of syrians, and many of the areas that are going toward extremism, they have no education, not going to be participant in the economy of their country. so a huge problem facing us ten years from now if we don't address it right now. so developing countries around syria could should be the

priority. there is an initiative by middle east investment initiative. the middle eastover plan. they have a plan to redeveloping the countries and integrating syrian refugees with jobs and education. i think that should go hand in hand with the political resolution. >> this lady here. >> i am from ukraine but ukraine american or american ukrainian, and what you are saying about refugees very close to me because the same things happen in ukraine. and suddenly we are living in a danger world, i'm speaking russian so all the -- the ones who are killing syrians which is horrible. tell me, all of this situation

is terribly affecting all the people but i like to ask you about the children. what are you doing to help children? because psychologically it's -- how to overcome this, how you focus on children and actually helping the syrian children in this situation. thank you. >> well, maybe of the ngos working international and syrian ngos are providing health care and trying to provide education to syrian children. unfortunately mental health is something there's not enough emphasis on it. the priority is to provide housing and food and less education, but this is something that the international community has to pay more attention to. there's not enough resources or expertise in the region to provide mental health to syrian refugees. the picture i've shown, the first picture, that's only one

example of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of syrian children who are completely traumatized because of the situation, because of the violence, not only syrian children, built the way. syrian women, syrian elderly, syrian disabled. syrian nurses and doctors are traumatize because of what they're seeing and what they're witnessing by the international committee. something has to be addressed. >> we're sort of running a little bit over time. we need move on to the next panel. thank you, all of you, for a brilliant presentation. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] nod [inaudible conversations] -- the state department and we're going to start with the deputy assistant secretary in the bureau of democracy and human rights and labor. she has a ph.d in political science from columbia, amongst many other kind of qualifications. she worked on the senate committee on intelligence and

also for senator frank loudenberg, then next to her, elizabeth campbell, a senior humanitarian policy adviser. also holds a ph.d, focused on research on somalis living in kenya, and then we have the principle assistant secretary. he was former deputy chief of mission in on duras and served in places around the world for the said department. so thank you. start with you. >> thank you very much, everybody. hopefully you can hear me. oops. thanks for convening us today. i have been nominated to go first on the panel for the simple reason is i'm the bearer of the description of the root

causes of some of the refugee migrations and the bad news or the horses, and i have to say being given five minutes to describe the human rights situation in syria, over five years, is kind of an unfair task. so i will try to summarize key points and give you a snapshot of what we're seeing now on the ground in syria, and start with a can he -- the answer to the question most frequently asked this fall and this year and the past four years, why are they fleeing, in response to the incredible flow of refugees out of syria. why are the fleeing? people are asking. and i hope to give you some idea why they're fleeing. why these syrian people from all parts of the country, all walks of life are leaving their homes and moving elsewhere and i'll leave it to my colleagues to describing the other things the u.s. government is doing to respond to this humanitarian disaster. so, why are they fleeing?

i want to convey to you the importance of remembering that the assad regime continues to bombard the syrian people to restrict humanitarian access and commit violations of international human rights law. of course, many violent extremist groups, including the islamic state of iraq and syria, isil, continue to commit appalling abuses of human rights and violations of ihl, international humanitarian law, at ever-increasing rates. want to detail and describe the regime's abuses and here's why. when asked, syrian refugees will say they're fleeing for most part because of the regime and its allies and it's proxies' abuses in particular there was a recent survey of 900 syrian refugees in europe, and just -- 70% of the respondents reported they were fleeing syria because of regimeys assaults. 70% say the feared kid naping

for assad forces, and -- led to the situation they found themselves in today. so, i want to give you a what, how, when, what is going on in terms the assad regime's continuing human rights violation it. the what. the u.s. -- the coi has consistently documented ashe temporary arrests dierks tension torture, sexual violence, forcible displacement, unlawful attacks, including those involving the use of barrel bombs and sieges of whole chutes. the coi found that government forces and militias committed humanitarian law violations and serious violations of human rights. according to credible reports regime linked paramilitary groups are involved in massacres and indiscriminate killings, kidnapping of civilians, are

temporary detensions and rape as tactics. government affiliate groups including hezbollah have repeatedly attacked civilians. so, i could give you many numbers, many statistics to confirm what the coi has found but i want to give you a few right now. the regime's ongoing attacks have resulted in ever larger and increasing numbers of civilian deaths and widespread destruction of schools, medical facilities, homes and businesses, and the assad regime government continues to -- attacks on medical personnel, and this is something we're calling closely, including facilities, with dire effect and a crippling othe medical infrastructure of a country that was once renowned for its doctors and nurses and hospitals. the human rights groups, the physician for human rights, reported details this fall of alleged russian strikes, air strikes, on medical facilities, since october of this year. i want to give you a focus on a how.

how are some of these human rights abuses being committed? focus on barrel bombs in tyler. hundreds of men, women and children are killed each week by reregime roz attacks with barrel bombs that destroy homes, schools and lives. and u.s. special envoy has strongly condemned assad regime's intensification of bombings across syria with dire effects on syrians and the infrastructure, and the coi report has called attention to the impact of the syrian regime's use of these barrel bombs. i want to talk about when because i want to be clear that the human rights violation abuses i just described are ongoing. contrary to claims the syrian regime is continuing its bombing campaign. and syrian documentation groups have recorded the regimeas used 1,438-barrel bombs in october of

2015 alone. and the november 14th november 14th statement which we can talk about in the q & a, referenced u.n. security council resolution 2139 which included demands that all parties to the conflict cease indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas. so we're seeing the continued use of barrel booms in october and november of this year, up nothing today. and also we detail the abuses of the say sad regime i want to underscore the importance of prisoners. this discussion has been lost but it's important to recall the number of prisoners and the types of prisoners are in jail. the assad regime continues to imprison tens of thousands of individuals, many who detained arbitrarily, subjected to torture, sexual violence, inhuman conditions, denial of fair trials, and execution. and according to a group that we work with, the syrian network for human rights, very objective documentation group, the regime has detained an estimated

215,000 prisoners including 35,000 political prisoners. and according to the same documentation group, the regime forced have tortured over 11,000 people to death, clawing 157 children to this day, hundreds of thousands of syrians remain in detention and many of them are arbitrarily held. so, this give yui snapshot why so many people when asked in a survey why they're fleeing, cite they're flying assad regime abuses. but of course, other groups are committing vial, vial, vial human rights abuses and i want to talk about day die daes it targets entire ethnic people and groups and particularly horrific and persistent, and tarring

these groups because of who they are. it is murdering daesh men and women who won't agree season its warped ideology. they're using women as hostages and commodities, spoils of war to be raped ore sold. these are tyrantses and they are committing crimes of unknown proportion but of incredible severity. ...

the government is supporting that accountability center as one of the premier institutions as leading an effort to very carefully database, analyzing and train documenters to document each case of torture and that gathers information from multiple sources including reporting, video and other sources and investigating and documenting the violations today. so finally come in conclusion i would urge everybody in the room and who cares about this to keep the human rights conditions in

the situations at the center of the story. there are reasons people are fleeing and those responsible for these violations and humanitarian law will be held accountable. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you so much for hosting this very important and timely event. i want us to begin by trying to put the current global migration crisis into perspective. today we say we often view more people are displaced than world war ii some 60 million. the overwhelming majority of those people are not crossing international borders and seeking asylum. the majority is some 40 million are displaced in their own countries. for whom there is no un mandated agency to provide them protection and assistance.

there is a refugee crisis in europe. for example today they have the highest per capita number of refugees for about one in four. it's home to one of the largest refugee camps hosting well over 200,000 refugees some of them have been there since the early '90s is hosting three generations. history can offer us the instructive lessons on how the world leaders and u.s. embassies and government have worked together to address the crisis that we can use to develop new tools, instruments and ways of working these current issues and as global company and the manner. the post world war ii refugee

crisis led to the creation of many important instruments and there was also the creation of the 1954 convention that would develop basically to address the phenomenon of those that have no nationalities. it's part of their efforts to share global responsibilities for ending the crisis. many of you will know that after the end of the vietnam war in 1975, hundreds of thousands of indochinese spokesperson crossed territorial waters to places like malaysia, singapore, thailand as well as hong kong and facing this seems to be no end in sight and many began to push back people which resulted in thousands of drownings.

it resulted in a comprehensive plan of action in 1989 under the leadership of the un refugee agency's. the refugee countries in southeast asia agreed to keep their borders open and engage in search and rescue operations and provide reduction to the refugee people. but they did so only on the basis of two sets of commitments from other states. first the coalition of government united states, canada, australia, new zealand and some other europeans committed to resettle officially all those who were discriminating refugees. and second, alternative and humane solutions including return and legal immigration channels for those who were deemed not to be refugees in the need of protection. and this led to millions being resettled. throughout the course of that we settled hundreds of thousands

through this basically ad hoc refugee task force and that experience led to congress developing the 1980 refugee act which underpins our program today and incorporated the united nations refugees and basically standardized the refugees admitted which i know the colleagues i know to speak about greater depth. it's to not provide too not provide a precise analogy to the contemporary situation. if you have political will and leadership of global competence strategies and approaches are possible. the opportunity was to engage in responding in ways that hopefully will lead to very measurable and seismic changes in the responses thus far.

the united states will participate at some of the highest possible level to move towards a comprehensive global solution to the current crisis. the uk will be hosting a conference and at that conference. that will include additional financing, resettle lands and other tools that will be essential to responding. it would be to encourage the new governments to step up to the place to begin to fund the appeal as well as those that currently are to contribute additional resources. the high-level events focus on the resettlement solution that will be organized and hosting geneva in cooperation. "in extremely important moment

for us to look at in a very global way about the resettlement of the refugees in particular. in may we will join the secretary general for the first-ever world war humanitarian summit that has been in the works now over two years and the united states is deeply engaged in this effort and is going to be an extraordinary opportunity for us to engage in world leaders and society and the private sector to make significant strides advancing the humanitarian agenda very broadly. so the goals for the summit include leveraging the development to help countries and encourage countries to secure more access to jobs and education and experience and others increasing protection especially for women and girls, updating and modernizing the system that is responding to these crises and building new partnerships with societies in the private sector.

the summit we are hoping will set the stage for the reforms and initiatives that we will undertake in the several years following the event. and finally, the secretary-general has announced a high-level meeting of global refugee migration crisis next year during the general assembly. this will be a critical moment for us an opportunity to galvanize global support and respond in a way that we would hope we do me to more sort of comprehensive responsibility sharing sort of measurable outcomes. so, 2016 is definitely a year you are going to see tremendous leadership around the questions in particular humanitarian issues in general. as the president has said the refugees still over challenging europe having the interest that demands the global response and i think that will really hopefully see some major steps forward on this agenda in 2016.

[applause] >> good afternoon. thank you very much to the host and especially all of you here this afternoon late on a friday afternoon at the end of december today's conflicts are not numerous they are often brutal and intractable. long-term on the violent suppression means uprooted people are not able to go home. these are not short-term emergencies. a child born in a refugee camp at the start of the crisis will often spend his or her entire childhood away from home. in some situations they deliver the grandchildren of the original refugees.

refugees make up just one segment of the population that's on the move but most of the 60 million people displaced globally are not refugees but as elizabeth pointed out, internally displaced persons who haven't crossed international borders. for instance, when isis is roughly one third of iraq's more than 3 million people fled. not the neighboring countries but other parts of iraq especially the kurdish areas of the northeast of the country. and sometimes, most times, many times government is the problem. and it's the home to 7 million or one fifth of the words total. it drops the bombs and disgrace hospitals and schools killing rebels and civilians alike. like the refugees, migrants

traveling without documents can be exceptionally vulnerable trade economic migrants both are subject to the same threats that can be abused, raped, kidnapped, abandoned or crammed into the same trucks, cages and rubber boots. so what is the united states doing about this problem? of the united states leads to conjure using the operations around the world in my beer of the bureau of the population refugees and migration has provided more than 3 billion in the fiscal year 21501, $3 billion. we do this by working with a un international organizations in this field. we fund the un refugee agency and the committee of the red cross and the international organization for migration and others. the agency for international development funds the world food program and the office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.

we also channel relief dollars through other un agencies who've heard arms like unicef and through the best nongovernmental organizations and charities that work in this field. of these operations deliver essential life-saving assistance, food, shelter, medical care and clean water standards nation. they protect the rights of the displaced, care for survivors of sexual violence can't reunify families can educate children and youth and help people gain the skills they need to be self-sufficient. in addition, we manage a refugee whose settlement program which identifies some of the world's most vulnerable refugees and offers them a fresh start. most refugees get jobs, enroll their children in school, pay taxes, revitalize communities and after five years may choose to take the test to become naturalized american citizens. next year we will accept at

least 10,000 refugees from syria. some argue it's too low and others seek the terrorists may enter the united states as refugees. the government is taking every possible precaution to make sure that doesn't happen especially trained department of homeland security applicants conducting extensive security checks and lengthy in-person interviews. we are determined to do more to help the world's refugees which is why we will increase the number here annually for all global refugees from 7,000 past three years to 85,000 in fiscal year 2016 and 100,000 in fiscal year 2017. u.s. diplomacy in humanitarian aid are vital. in crisis after crisis we've been able to spearhead of the international response and use our influence to help keep the

borders open and keep the aid flowing. this has saved millions of lives. but today the groups are stretched thin. all of the humanitarian organizations are grappling with a really insufficient funds to address a long list of the crisis. the united nations is seeking $9.5 billion for humanitarian assistance for this calendar year, 2015. and so far it's received only half of what it was looking for. how can we close the gap and meet such vast needs tax? private donors may be reminiscent of because they are messy and complex in the image of bombings, barbed wire and misery can be overwhelming, even dumbing. the 7 million children have been affected by this crisis and many have been traumatized. a whole generation urgently

needs help and care and this is why my colleagues and i support the campaign launched by agencies and nongovernmental organizations. we must adapt to changing needs and technology to make humanitarian aid more efficient created the majority of the refugees today live in cities and towns not kamps. instead of handouts, they need -- they may need to be handed a work permit. instead of a one-size-fits-all approach the elderly and the disabled need it tailored for them. there are classrooms, hospital wards and water systems so the societies not suffering for giving the right thing. the humanitarian side of the un secretary general is scheduled for spring, 2016, offers an

opportunity to call attention to what does and doesn't work in the humanitarian response and recruit more than the government organizations to invest in the best practices. we can help the government respond humanely when the migrants and refugees arrived at the borders. we can crack down on human struggling and we can explore legal alternatives and dangerous irregular migration. legal migrations can fill the gaps in the labor pool and provide financial lifelines to families and communities back home. we must stay vigilant and to engage and take whatever action we can to stop ethnic religious and political rivalries from exploding into violence. we must do what we can to prevent one from being so bleak that risking death seems preferable. this means strengthening the programs run by the state department state department and the usa to foster the rule of law by corruption and create

economic opportunities overseas. whatever we do, however incremental and it matters. thank you. [applause] is a third question to the extent you might be able to comment on this the house passing the refugees coming into the united states and also part of the bill that was passed as the fbi director with the fbi director and the dhs tractor what is the practical effect of that do you think in terms of the program hanging refugees into being refugees into the country or is it too early to tell? >> we are waiting to see. it's very unclear to me so far but if that kind of legislation was passed that would close down our program.

i could go through the reasons that it's a political decision. a political foes and it is designed to close the program down. >> because the certification as a practical matter would be -- >> all aspects are in practical and it was designed that way. spin scenic as a follow-up -- >> can i add about half of the democrats i think more than half of the members of congress were democratic and voted for that and signed the letter saying they would support it. it's back the related program in the senate is much more sensible if you visited iraq in the last few years you wouldn't automatically go through the program if you are a country that were a country that enjoys that sets the correct characterization so that seems like a fairly sensible measure.

>> it's not my area but something the administration supports a. >> i will answer. it makes it first the remarks by themselves make it more difficult for our programs to work on integrating refugees to the u.s. because it makes them more hesitant to be open and feel welcomed with communities. those that spoke up against it is reassuring.

>> another question raise your hand you have a question for. >> thank you very much. how do you as representatives see what they've done because the ambassador will be speaking here of late are accepting close to a million refugees in the country that is traditionally seen as an immigrant receiving country versus the u.s.. thank you. >> i think it's important for all the distinction between what is going on here. it's very different when you have a large number of people approaching the border and there they are and you have to work with them and the situation we face in the united states with the refugees and others are being recycled is that they are going through a very long

measure process that gives a lot of opportunity to screen and recital so i think generally they are very supportive and think that they need to be praised for what they are doing because they are taking what is an incredible number of people i've heard close to a million now and just amazed how the government is organizing this to the local government officials working on the ground to get everybody settled to the thousands and thousands of germans that are volunteering. >> any other questions click

>> quick question about the 10,000 refugees who will be scheduled to be resettled. the question regarding the 10,000 that will be resettled in the governors that have talked about not accepting refugees into their state. while legally that may not be attainable from the practical standpoint can you talk about some of the difficulties connected with that? >> i get people's fear of terrorism. i've lived overseas. my daughter was in paris. i understand that. i think that it's our duty to reassure the american public that we take these threats more serious than anything and it's our number one duty to protect them and that the refugee program is designed to be as careful as possible making sure

we aren't bringing anyone into the united states. it is a process that is very closely monitored. we think what we should be doing is is informing the governor is making sure they know about what we are doing and getting them to understand this is a safe program. now legally there is very little governors can do about bringing people into the states and you can't discriminate against nationalities or ways of the religion. that's not allowed. you can't cut benefits from them. but on another level our program only exists or works well if we have a lot of local support in getting people settled so we are

hoping we can work with the governors and others that are opposed to the program can bring them over to our side and return to this sort of bipartisan support in a program that the program that we have had for 30 years. >> explain to those in the audience as well as here in the room the 18 to 24 month process involves what? why would it be the last thing a terrorist would want to go through? >> it's difficult to do because it is so detailed starting off i think one thing that's important to remind everyone is only 1% of the world's refugees get resettled. it's not aimed at the best solution to this is for people to go home and keep them safe anyplace close to their home. this program has always been aimed at a small amount of people who are vulnerable and not doing well in their country.

a typical examples we give our victims of torture, female headed households which are struggling to survive the cases in countries that are prejudiced so those are the people that we are aiming at. so it's not large numbers. they give 75% of the cases and in those cases it is a very small percentage of the refugees that are in that country so if someone wanted to get into the program they would have to somehow figure out how would they get into that very small percentage they are being referred to in the first place which are by far mostly women and children then after that once we have recommendations we want an extensive and biographical check on people's backgrounds from a number of

u.s. databases which is very intensive and includes a lot of information gathered from overseas and we look for any connection that anyone might have to somebody that we don't want in a state and we have a pretty high bar. then after that every single family is put through a interview with really well trained agents who ask all kinds of questions about their background and look for other reasons as inconsistencies that might be a problem and take fingerprints so than the fingerprint checks are done and only after that the officers convinced it's a good case for they are cleared to come into the united states and then there's some medical objection. so it went in to be a very efficient way to get into the united states, and i think we

have a lot of checks even to make sure that somebody doesn't do that. >> i'm an affiliate of a private citizen. >> i wish i was. [laughter] my question is in hindsight are there things that we should have done differently or expected differently doesn't it seem at least now it feels like it was a little naïve to expect that they would just go quietly and quickly and should we have expected there would be more refugees into it would be as aggressive as he was and you know, just wondering if there's anything we could have expected differently than what happened.

>> yes and no. we saw the terrible use of the types of weapons and the viciousness. we had those that were allowed back in 2011 and 2012, so the abuses i described and the reason people are fleeing was real and present. the staying power of the regime surprised many. the degree to which the allies and others have militarily supported some of these atrocities might have been surprising that yes and no i don't think that in hindsight it is any. of course back then in the past couple of years for sure in many parts also as i mentioned the strike led to migration so there's all kinds of factors that happened that have led to

the fall. >> and with crisis action. you mentioned the humanitarian summit as well as the conference i'm wondering how protection is going to be discussed and possibly be in the process. it's packed his back was the last part? speck out out of the "great. >> is absolutely at the center of the humanitarian policies and the opportunity that we have is to really think about ways in which world leaders at the highest of all can come together to make new affirmations or commitments work commitments are bound to that but i think that everyone understands if you don't look at that piece, it's everything. that's the heart of what we are trying to address and