The Foreign Service Journal, November 2007

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 11 19,800 Iraqis asked to be resettled in 36 Western countries. Almost half requested entry to Sweden, which has been taking about 1,000 refugees per month but is now experiencing a pop- ular backlash. The U.S. pledge to increase refu- gee resettlement to 12,000 in the coming year was met with skepticism by human rights activists. “Given the size of this refugee crisis — and the thousands and thousands of Iraqis who are at risk because of their work for the United States itself — it is both disappointing and shocking that the U.S. is not willing to bring more Iraqis to safety in this country next year,” Eleanor Acer, spokeswoman for the nonprofit group Human Rights First ( www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/ lifeline/index.asp ), told the Los Angeles Times. Acer noted that when the political will exists, the U.S. has historically taken in far greater numbers of refu- gees. Between 1948 and 1952, some 250,000 Europeans displaced by World War II came to the U.S., and in 1975 America absorbed 131,000 Viet- namese refugees within a period of seven months. — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor Diversity Visa Program Under Attack The Diversity Visa Program, estab- lished by the Immigration Act of 1990, differs from other visa programs in that it places no emphasis on employer or family sponsorship from within the U.S. but uses a lottery system to allocate visas. In a report on the program re- leased Sept. 21, the Government Accountability Office found that although it has been effective in diversifying immigrants, the DVP is vulnerable to fraud and could cons- titute a security risk as currently implemented ( www.gao.gov ) . Since 1995, more than 500,000 aliens from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. have become legal permanent residents. But, says the GAO, the program is also vulner- able to fraud committed both by and against DV applicants. In addition, the State Department has neither compiled comprehensive data on de- tected and suspected fraud, nor developed a strategy to address the problem. The GAO surveyed DVP opera- tions at 11 overseas posts. At more than half of the posts, consular officers said that visa agents and their widespread use of fake documents distort the process and make verifi- cation of applicants difficult. Nearly 9,800 persons from countries designa- ted by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism have obtained permanent residency in the U.S. through the program. Although GAO found no evidence that DV immigrants from these or any other countries posed a terrorist or other threat to the U.S., the prospect is not out of the question. “This places a premium on mitigating fraud risks,” the report concludes. The State Department did not concur with GAO recommendations to compile better data and develop a strategy to combat fraud, claiming it already has a robust screening pro- gram for DV applicants. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Com- mittee that requested the investi- gation as part of its review of the immigrant visa process, has called for shutting down the DV lottery program immediately. — Susan Brady Maitra, Senior Editor Waiting on Diplomacy: Kosovo’s Uncertain Status By Dec. 10, the six-nation Contact Group (France, Germany, Italy, Rus- sia, the U.K. and the U.S.), which has been guiding the Pristina-Belgrade talks on the future of Kosovo, will deliver its report to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the final status of the troubled province. After eight years of uncertainty, the prolonged debate over Kosovo has reached a crucial point. Declaring the status quo unsustainable, the U.N. secretary-general has urged the Con- tact Group to produce an agree- ment that clarifies Kosovo’s status and addresses the key concerns of all communities in the former Serbian province. With Russia supporting Serbian claims to the region and the U.S. in favor of supervised independence, it falls to the European Union and its Common Foreign and Security Policy to resolve the current gridlock. But achieving consensus among all 27 members may prove difficult. On Sept. 19, at a seminar hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International C Y B E R N O T E S 50 Years Ago... The idea of a union for the Foreign Service may quite properly seem inappropriate to a majority of association members, but this does not mean that they would not welcome an occasional measure of militancy on the part of the association’s board in championing their interests. — From “Our Association: What Should We Do? What Can We Do?” FSJ , November 1957