Amnesty International USA participated in Refugee Council USA’s (“RCUSA”) Letter A Day campaign in honor of World Refugee Day on June 20th. RCUSA is a coalition of 25 US-based NGOs dedicated to refugee protection and support of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. During the month of June, many members of RCUSA, including Amnesty International USA, sent a letter to Congress explaining why refugee resettlement needs continued support. As World Refugee Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees around the world, each letter hopes to highlight the importance of resettlement as a durable solution to the world’s most vulnerable and continued humanitarian assistance to over 65 million people displaced around the world.
In Amnesty’s letter, sent on June 13, we urge Congress to:
- Call on the Administration to ensure that every effort is made to reach the FY18 refugee admissions goal.
- Call on the President to set a refugee admissions goal of at least 75,000 refugees resettled in FY19, aligned more closely with both the global need and U.S. public’s capacity and desire to support refugees resettled here in the U.S.
- Sustain robust funding for humanitarian assistance for forcibly displaced people worldwide while also strongly supporting the USRAP.