Refugees from World War II-devastated Europe upon arrival to New York City, for resettlement by Church World Service. CWS historical photo.
With famine now declared in parts of Somalia and more than 11.3 million people in need of aid in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti, Church World Service is providing emergency food relief, water tankering and long-term disaster risk reduction programs, beginning in northern and eastern Kenya.
As thousands of those affected by this crisis flee daily across borders to seek relief and life, CWS will use the occasion of a long-planned special event this Thursday, July 21, in New York to observe that forced displacement due to natural disaster is increasing and must be addressed by the international community.
CWS staff and constituents, along with colleagues from the U.S. government, United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, will gather from 6:30 to 9 p.m. July 21 at the Museum of the City of New York to affirm their shared commitment to protect the world’s growing number of forcibly displaced.
The by-invitation event will feature a special photographic timeline exhibit of the UN’s, U.S.’s and CWS’s post-World War II history in refugee resettlement. The gathering was planned to honor CWS’s own 65th anniversary, this year’s 60th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and the 50th anniversary of the UN convention on Reduction of Statelessness.
Headlining the event are Vincent Cochetel, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regional representative for the United States and the Caribbean; Kenneth Leutbecker, Retired Chief of Parole and Humanitarian Affairs, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Brookings Institution’s Elizabeth Ferris, Co-Director, Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement. They will join CWS Executive Director and CEO, the Rev. John L. McCullough in remarks on historic, current and emerging challenges and victories in offering safety, welcome and new futures for millions of refugees and displaced people worldwide.
Specially invited refugee guest speakers for the evening are Ali Al Sudani, an Iraqi, and Hlawn Kip Tlem, an ethnic Chin refugee from Burma. Sudani is now director of refugee services for CWS refugee resettlement affiliate agency Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, and Tlem, now resident in Indianapolis, Ind., is one of nine recipients of the Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship in Marion County, Ind., which will fund four years of the honor student’s undergraduate studies in civil engineering when she enters the University of Evansville this fall.
“In addition to honoring refugees worldwide and those who have helped them throughout time, we are particularly glad to hold this special anniversary event now, to bring greater attention to one of the most threatening times in human history and the needs of the world’s most vulnerable millions,” says Erol Kekic, CWS immigration and refugee program director and host for the event.
According to the United Nations’ latest data – which predate today’s new displacement in the Horn of Africa – roughly 155 million people are displaced by armed conflict, persecution, natural disaster and large-scale development projects.
Church World Service was resettling refugees to the United States before there was a U.N. Refugee Convention or U.S. Refugee Program. Protestant churches founded CWS in 1946 to help World War II-ravaged Europe and Asia. The New York City-based CWS helped shape U.S. refugee policy from the start, suggesting principles for resettlement by voluntary agencies. Today, CWS works to enhance refugees’ successful resettlement and full integration into their new communities.
“The United Nations, the United States and humanitarian groups like Church World Service have long held up the mantle of protection for refugees fleeing violence, civil strife and wars,” Kekic said. “We are now facing the increasing migration of millions due to a mix of interrelated factors, including economic distress; the fight for access to land, water and mineral resources, and rising sea levels, drought and other results of climate change. Furthermore, increasing numbers of forcibly displaced people are being pushed off their land to ‘misery belts’ around big cities with few or no services.
“By 2060, the number of forcibly displaced people could reach 1 billion. We believe that the term ‘refugee protection’ will take on immensely greater meaning and priority for us all in the years ahead,” he said.
The CWS 65th anniversary event also caps the week’s annual Church World Service refugee resettlement affiliates conference in Manhattan, as those community-level agencies address shared challenges and successes in assisting incoming refugees and those who are still integrating into their new cultures.
Performing at the CWS anniversary gathering: popular singer and songwriter Yvette Rovira, a supporter of the agency’s hunger and poverty fighting work at home and worldwide.