March 24, 2004 - PCOL Exclusive: Congressman Sam Farr's Statement on Safety and Security of Peace Corps Volunteers before the House International Relations Committee
Congressman Sam Farr's Statement on Safety and Security of Peace Corps Volunteers before the House International Relations Committee
Congressman Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, presided over hearings on March 24 on Safety and Security of Peace Corps Volunteers. Read and comment on the written statement by the witnesses at the hearings at:
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Congressman Sam Farr's Statement on Safety and Security of Peace Corps Volunteers before the House International Relations Committee
I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and I served in Colombia, the country where Mr. Crozier and Mr. Radley, the first Peace Corps Volunteers were killed.
I am here because my sister came to visit me in Colombia. She was 16 years old. My mother had just died. My sister, my father, and I had just gone horseback riding and she was thrown from a horse. We went to the rural hospital there and they said nothing was wrong.
And then she died. She died because that hospital just didn't have the equipment.
And I got very angry. As a Peace Corps Volunteer I got very angry at life, I was angry with God. And then one day I realized that that was why I had joined to Peace Corps - to try to improve the situation. And that is what drove me into politics.
I am here today because I really want to urge the committee not to change the nature of the Peace Corps and essentially have a "Fortress America" Peace Corps Volunteer - because that would destroy it.
The most interesting comment that I have heard in all the years that I have sat here on the House Appropriations Committee and on the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee was from General Abizaid last week. He is the General in charge of all of Africa and all of the Middle East and of the 270,000 troops in that area. He said something so profound.
He said that until the United States learns how to cross the cultural divide, we will not have peace in this world. And the only successful way for the United States to cross the cultural divide, the really successful way, is the Peace Corps.
They do go to those countries and they do take those risks and I am concerned for their safety and that is a part of good training and good placement, and those are issues that Director Vasquez has talked about. But I would just strongly urge this committee not to overreact and not to create more bueracracy, more rules, more regulations that are going to keep people from reporting incidents because of the discipline for failing to report them.
Try to preserve that initial spirit that has served us so well.
The fascinating thing about the Peace Corps is that the demand to have Peace Corps Volunteers is at an all time high so we are doing something right and the only thing in the supply and demand that stands in the way is whether Congress is going to appropriate enough money and enough resources to get the job done.
And we have passed the bill to double the Peace Corps and if we have to make some administrative changes, so be it but not so that it injures the role of the Peace Corps Volunteer.
Thank you for allowing me to sit in and [to Mr. and Mrs. Poirier] I am very, very sorry for the loss of your son.
March 23, 2004 - US Newswire: Hyde to introduce Peace Corps Safety and Security Act of 2004
Read and comment on this Press Release from the Committee on International Relations that Chairman Henry Hyde will introduce the Peace Corps Safety and Security Act of 2004 to create an agency ombudsman; enhance the Corps' security office; and give greater independence to the agency's Office of the Inspector General. Read the story at:
* This link was active on the date it was posted. PCOL is not responsible for broken links which may have changed.
Safety & Security of Peace Corps Volunteers: Hyde schedules Wednesday oversight hearing; Plans introduction of legislation to remedy problems
BACKGROUND: The president's intention of doubling the size of the Peace Corps comes at a time of heightened risk for Americans living abroad. Recent critical reports by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and an award-winning series by the Dayton Daily News illustrate uneven performance by the Peace Corps in developing safe and secure housing and worksites, responding to volunteer concerns, and planning for emergencies. Among those scheduled to testify are Walter R. Poirier, the father of missing Peace Corps volunteer Walter J. Poirier. The younger Poirier, a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, and a 2000 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, served as a volunteer in Bolivia until his disappearance in March 2001. A subsequent GAO report found that "the Peace Corps failed to properly supervise Poirier and lost track of him." Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez is expected to testify on recent policies adopted by the Peace Corps to promote the safety and security of its volunteers. Later this month, Chairman Hyde will introduce the Peace Corps Safety and Security Act of 2003 to create an agency ombudsman; enhance the Corps' security office; and give greater independence to the agency's Office of the Inspector General.
WHAT: Full Committee oversight hearing: Safety and Security of Peace Corps Volunteers
WHEN: 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 24
WHERE: Room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building
WITNESSES: Gaddi H. Vasquez, Director, The Peace Corps; Charles D. Smith, Inspector General, The Peace Corps; Jeffrey Bruce, Editor, Dayton Daily News; Jess Ford, Director, International Affairs and Trade, General Accounting Office; Walter R. Poirier, father of missing Peace Corps volunteer; and Kevin Quigley, President, National Peace Corps Association.
Issues expected to be examined at the hearing:
-- How does the Peace Corps monitor the safety and security of its volunteers in the field?
-- Is there a standard policy on a global or country-by- country basis that requires supervisors to visit or contact volunteers in person at a specified interval?
-- How does the Peace Corps train its volunteers, especially with respect to safety and security? After several months on assignment, do Peace Corps volunteers feel that they have been adequately prepared for their assignment?
-- Is it possible to expand the presence of the Peace Corps in additional countries while taking into account the safety of Peace Corps volunteers?
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Congress; Hearings; Legislation; Safety and Security of Volunteers
