Resolving the Plight of Persecuted, Uprooted People Around the World

Afghan refugee children standing with their belongings on a truck as they depart for Afghanistan from a UNHCR repatriation terminal in Pakistan on November 17, 2012.

By Anne C. Richard serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration.

2012 was a challenging year for humanitarians trying to help displaced people around the world. The following summarizes some of the challenges addressed by the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) last year.

Inside Syria, 40,000 people have been killed and over two million are displaced. Over half a million people have fled to neighboring countries. The U.S. government (the State Department and USAID) is providing $210 million in humanitarian aid to the region, and this aid is reaching millions.

Last year, refugees fled violence and drought in Northern Mali and fighting in Sudan, and even more displacement in the conflict-ravaged eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Kenya, Somalis found shelter in overcrowded refugee camps. In response, PRM staff members directed funding to emergency response and routinely carried out monitoring and evaluation visits to ensure U.S.-funded aid is well spent and reaching the people who need it.

In Afghanistan, PRM helped repatriate and reintegrate over 83,000 Afghans who returned home this year. NGO-run health clinics were transferred to Afghanistan's Ministry of Health, as planned. The U.S. government also supports the UN Refugee Agency's Solution Strategy for Afghan Refugees, which works with Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan to protect refugees until they can return home safely and voluntarily and to find permanent homes for them when they do return.