Reply #3: statement from refugees international [View All]

[radfringe]

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/6712/

Statement on the nomination of Ellen Sauerbrey as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration

Kenneth H. Bacon
09/01/2005


President Bush’s nomination of Ellen Sauerbrey to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration suggests a weakening of the administration’s commitment to refugee protection and humanitarian action. The Refugee Bureau at State is the nation’s first responder to refugee crises, whether caused by wars, earthquakes, famines or floods. However, Ms. Sauerbrey has no experience with refugee protection or with orchestrating responses to complex humanitarian emergencies.

Ms. Sauerbrey, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor in Maryland, is currently the Bush administration’s ambassador to the United Nations for women’s issues. In that post, Ambassador Sauerbrey has spoken out strongly on three issues: the need for more education for women, the importance of empowering women economically and politically and her opposition to abortion rights. It is her anti-abortion stance that appears to have attracted the administration’s attention, even though population programs comprise a small part of the Refugee Bureau’s work.