Hearing of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - Opening Statement of Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Hearing on "Examining the Syrian Humanitarian Crisis from the Ground (Part I)."

Hearing

"Since the beginning of last Congress, this is the 6th time our Subcommittee has convened to look specifically at the humanitarian crisis in Syria. I am grateful that we are welcoming back some of these organizations which testified before us last year, and welcoming one new one, and we thank them all for their work under these difficult circumstances. While the news about Syria today is dominated by geopolitics or the US domestic political ramifications of the latest Russian air strikes against anti-Assad rebels, or the strain faced by EU countries because of the hundreds of thousands of mostly Syrian refugees flowing across their borders, I think it is important to remember that the Syrian crisis did not come about yesterday. We now have, at the very least, 25 million people who are going through unimaginable pain and suffering in their lives -- lives that have been absolutely turned upside down in the past few years.

For years, this subcommittee has been advocating for a comprehensive strategy towards the Syrian humanitarian crisis. And even though recent news headlines focus on the amount of refugees heading to Europe, we cannot forget about the millions of refugees who remain in the Middle East. Internally, 7.6 million Syrians have been displaced and at least 4.1 million have fled abroad to Syria's neighbors, especially Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called the combined situations in Syria and Iraq a "mega crisis,' one in which over 25 million people have been affected by the violence and brutality of Bashar al-Assad and ISIL. At least 16 million Syrians, including refugees registered abroad, are in need of humanitarian assistance. And combined with the over 300,000 people already dead, it is fair to say that, in Syria, we may be witnessing one of the largest humanitarian disasters of our modern times.

The best and only surefire way to end the internal suffering and its external consequences like the refugee crisis, is to put an end to the conflict in Syria and remove Assad from power. In the meantime, the United States will continue to try and improve the ability of those on the ground to deliver aid, through both security and diplomatic solutions, and build the capacity of our partners and those suffering communities to respond on their own. The United States has already met the humanitarian crisis with a tremendous response, donating over $4.5 billion dollars in aid since the conflict in Syria began 4 years ago.

However, there are many questions that need to be answered about the efficacy and continuity of our aid, the monitoring capabilities of our implementing partners, and the lack of assistance being provided by others in the region and elsewhere. I remain concerned that, despite the large amounts of aid and resources being donated, very little of our assistance is reaching those in need. In our February hearing on the humanitarian crisis, the administration testified that -- at that time -- 72 percent of our $3 billion dollars in aid was going through the UN. We must ensure that there are sufficient monitoring capabilities in place to prevent fraud or corruption and to ensure that aid is not being diverted or falling into the hands of ISIL, the Assad regime, or other terrorist groups.

I am also concerned about the ability of NGOs to access those in need when faced with the dangerous situation on the ground in Syria. Humanitarian workers must be allowed to reach those who are suffering without fear of retaliation. We must also not accept the arguments of some who contend that Russian and Iranian involvement will be beneficial for the humanitarian response -- nothing good will come out of Russian and Iranian involvement in Syria. This will be the first time in over a year that the Subcommittee has heard from the NGOs and our implementing partners operating on the ground in Syria. And I am very grateful that they've come here today to share their perspective and to provide suggestions on how we can better respond to this ever growing humanitarian tragedy."

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