Human Rights First Recommendations

The United States should launch a much more significant effort to bring to safety in this country Iraqis who are in danger because of their work for the United States, U.S. organizations, and the U.S. media, as well as some of the other particularly vulnerable refugees who have fled Iraq in search of safety. The United States should lead the way in providing life-saving and stabilizing aid to the region, and should take steps to help maintain asylum for refugees who flee from Iraq.  

Specifically, the United States should:

Resettle Refugees

• Commit to bring at least 30,000 Iraqi refugees to safety in the United States in the 2008 fiscal year, including vulnerable populations and religious minorities.
  
• Enact special legislation to bring to safety in the United States
  all translators and others who are at risk because of their work with the U.S. military, the U.S. government, U.S. organizations, or the U.S. media;
  
• Identify specific groups that should be given direct access to the U.S. refugee admissions program, such as Iraqis who have worked for the United States and vulnerable stateless people in Iraq.
  
• Ensure that Iraqis in imminent danger but unable to escape the country can apply to be brought to the U.S. through its refugee admissions program.
  
• Bring to safety in the United States the families of American
  citizens, Iraqi refugees, asylees and other Iraqis who reside in the
  United States;
  
• Amend the overly broad "material support" clause of the Patriot and Real ID acts
  so that Iraqi refugees who have been forced to pay ransom to violent groups are not prevented from entering the U.S.
  
• Ensure that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have adequate staff and funding to interview and process an increased number of Iraqi refugees. This should include posting members of the DHS refugee corps to the region as needed. 
  
• Allocate the personnel and resources necessary to ensure the thorough, effective and timely conduct of all security screening procedures.

Provide Lifesaving and Stabilizing Aid

• Take the lead in funding all United Nations appeals for aid for Iraqi refugees, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WH)) and the World Food Program (WFP)
  
• Increase aid to - and for - countries in the region that are hosting refugees, and for those who are displaced within Iraq.  The countries hosting the most Iraqi refugees include Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. 

Maintain the Right to Asylum

• Ensure that Iraqis who seek asylum in the United States are treated
  fairly and in a manner consistent with this country's commitments
  under the Refugee Convention and Protocol.
  
• Encourage other states to allow Iraqi refugees to seek asylum and to abide by international law prohibitions against deporting refugees back to places where they could face persecution

Report the Scope of the Need

• Report to Congress on the total number of Iraqis at risk due to their
  work for United States government agencies, the United States
  military, private contractors, and the media.