Congressional Testimony

Around the world, the compounding effects of conflict, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic are driving record levels of humanitarian need. At the same time, the operational challenges created by these same drivers of need are making the delivery of aid more challenging —the number of people we can reach with the same level of resources is declining. According to the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 235 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2021. This constitutes a 40 percent increase in need over the 2020 level, which senior UN officials assess is almost entirely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has impacted each humanitarian sector differently (a few of which I will highlight below), we have consistently seen that communities affected by conflict or disasters are particularly susceptible to the spread of COVID-19 and its impacts—the populations we reach are often displaced, and many lack access to food and the basic services that are critical for preventing and mitigating disease outbreaks. This pandemic has had disparate impacts on already vulnerable or marginalized groups, including women and girls, children, and people with disabilities. In addition to providing life-saving assistance to populations in need, we are also making targeted investments in the international humanitarian system to effectively respond to public health emergencies in even the most challenging operational contexts.

The United States has several options moving forward. Many of us who watch Africa have grown more alarmed in recent years at the rapid spread of violent extremism, from thenow affecting not just the Sahel and the Horn, but also, now toward the the West African coast, through the Horn, down the Great Lakes Region, and now along the shores of the Indian Ocean in northern Mozambique. Whereas just a few years ago, the center of attention was on the proliferation of groups in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere in the Middle East, African countries are increasingly featured and fill reports on global terrorism. These same countries feature in IS/Al-Qaida propaganda. The United States is waking up to that reality, and Congress can play an amplifying role, as this hearing today demonstrates. Thank you for giving these issues your attention.

Last month, I traveled to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to hear directly from the people impacted by the cycles of poverty, violence, climate shocks, and corruption and I travelled to assess and expand the impact U.S. assistance was having on their lives. What I saw there was a local reflection of global trends. People that continue to lose loved ones and suffer through lockdowns due to a still-raging COVID-19 pandemic that has already left 4 million people dead around the world. Families that have been traumatized by more frequent and intense hurricanes and rare weather events, many in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. And, as you indicated, everyday-citizens who are angered by poor governance, autocratic behavior, and corruption that limits opportunity, investment, prosperity, and personal freedom.

The United States and our neighbors in the Caribbean remain strong partners with shared values and interests. For the past 16 years during the month of June, we have celebrated these values and the countless contributions of the Caribbean-American diaspora community as part of Caribbean-American Heritage month. And we look forward to deepening these ties in the months and years ahead. Our partnership with the Caribbean is based not only on shared culture and values, but also on the understanding that what affects one of us, affects all of us.