Ensuring the Safety and Security of ECA Exchange Participants
Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2018 at 8:58 pm.
By Lynette Evans-Tiernan, Communications Manager for the J-Visa Exchange Visitor Program
At the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, we have a steadfast and enduring commitment to safety and security. This commitment extends not only to U.S. citizens and diplomats overseas, but also to the thousands of exchange visitors from every sector of society who participate in educational and cultural exchange programs abroad and here in the United States.
On February 26, Acting Assistant Secretary Jennifer Zimdahl Galt hosted a dialogue with sponsors that administer the J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program to discuss how to continue to strengthen efforts to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of exchange participants.
During the webinar, Acting Assistant Secretary Galt reaffirmed the paramount importance of keeping all exchange participants safe and reinforced a culture of accountability across partner organizations. She said: “Ensuring the safety and security of more than 300,000 exchange participants a year is a weighty responsibility; it is one that I take to heart each and every day and that requires our collective, sustained focus. We must continuously strive, working together, toward that goal.”
Safety and security considerations are infused in every step of the Department’s implementation of the program beginning with sponsor designations where well-designed plans and processes are outlined, moving through to the careful selection and screening of participants, host families, schools and worksites. Safety and security continues through of all phases of the program including pre-departure and arrival briefings, monitoring and oversight, 24/7 hotlines, health benefits programs, and providing active, skilled and compassionate responses when emergencies arise.
“We want every exchange participant who has a problem to feel comfortable reaching out to their host employers and sponsor, to know that their concerns will be taken seriously, to report incidents without fear of retaliation, and to receive the best qualified assistance as quickly as possible,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Galt. “No exchange participant – wherever they are in the world – should ever be alone without recourse.”
Together, the Department and sponsors are striving to strengthen and improve safety and security measures to ensure the best experience possible for exchange participants and their American communities.
Read Acting Assistant Secretary Galt’s full remarks
Categories: Program Spotlight
| About Rebecca Pasini Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchange | |
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Rebecca A. Pasini joined the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Private Sector Exchanges in July 2023. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister - Counselor, Ms. Pasini has been an American diplomat since 1997.
Ms. Pasini previously served as the Director of Public and Congressional Affairs in the Bureau of Consular Affairs from 2021-2023. Other Washington assignments have included positions in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the Office of Foreign Missions, and as a liaison to the Department of Homeland Security. She has also completed multiple overseas tours, including as Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs in Islamabad, Pakistan, and as the Consular Chief in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Other tours included Mexico City and Kuwait.
A Maryland native, Ms. Pasini has a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University, a master’s degree in National Security and Resource Strategy from the Eisenhower School, National Defense University, and an undergraduate degree from Mary Washington College.
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