Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) discusses the implications of allowing Iraqi refugees to come to the United States at House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. (0:44)
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher discusses what to do with Iraqi refugees at House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on “No Direction Home: An NGO Perspective on Iraqi Refuges and IDP’s (internally displaced persons).” (1:06)
By Ellen Ratner
This past Sunday was Easter, arguably the most peaceful, joyous and hopeful celebration in all of Christendom.
As I glance outside my window, I can see the props of our wealthy civilization: Tall, sleek, buildings of glass and steel, late model automobiles, paved roads and stores offering an abundance of all that that makes life long, good and easy. Yet about one week ago on Palm Sunday, I looked out and saw something else. That day found me in a small village in southern Sudan. And what I saw were buildings of dried grass and open roofs, filled with people, some of whom did not resemble the people I see on the street today – they wore rags, not their Easter Sunday best. And these rags contained men, women and, heartbreakingly, children – so many, many children – who resembled only caricatures of human beings: Malnourished and stick thin, whose tight flesh hosted open, running and sometimes what might be gangrenous sores. Mothers’ breasts were dry; fathers and older male children were too weak to gather food that simply wasn’t there anyway.
These were the bodies of starvation and the faces of suffering. On Palm Sunday, I was in Southern Darfur.
On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Ellen Ratner says it is an amazing scene. The people that left their villages and went to Darfur, Ellen says, are being dropped off to their home villages without food or much at all. They talked about their needs, she says, and how their houses were burned down, and their cattle were taken, and how they had no food and had to leave. They are being repatriated in their home communities. They talked to refugees that were coming back from Darfur, she said, and when she asked them how many of them had a relative that had been killed or had been enslaved, every one of them raised their hand. (1:24)
Mona Yacoubian, special adviser at the Muslim World Initiative of USIP, says that an isolationist policy must be greatly increased if it is to yield results, and consequently becomes less attractive. She recommends a policy of engagement as a more effective technique. (0:39)
Steven Heydemann, vice president of grants and fellowships at USIP, discusses the factors leading to the Syrian government’s recent crackdown against opposition groups and poor human rights record at a panel discussion. He says that perceptions of impunity on the part of the Syrian regime are reinforced by such events as the upcoming Arab League summit in Damascus and that this makes for low “opportunity cost of repression.” (0:50)
