Iraqi Refugee Crisis: News

After fleeing violence in Baghdad in March 2007, these refugees had been camping in no-man's land on the Iraq-Jordan border for weeks until Syria finally agreed to take them in. Syria is hosting more than 1.5 million Iraqi refugees.

The U.S. Response to the Refugee Crisis

At a January 16, 2007, oversight hearing entitled "The Plight of Iraqi Refugees," Sen. Kennedy expressed concern that the United States admitted only 202 Iraqi refugees to the country during the last fiscal year and that a special immigrant visa program for Iraqi and Afghan translators already had a six-year wait list.

On February 14, 2007, the U.S. State Department announced that the United States would:

• resettle 7,000 Iraqi refugees in the United States through its resettlement program;
  
• create special programs (including through legislation) to assist Iraqis who are at risk because of their employment or close association with the U.S. government;
  
• contribute $18 million to the work of the UN High Commission for Refugees, as well as provide other aid; and
  
• engage the governments in the region, thanking them for their assistance and encouraging them to uphold the principle of first asylum.

But so far, the U.S. refugee program has brought only a handful of Iraqi refugees to the United States, and much more assistance is needed to ensure the safety and protection of Iraqi refugees and those displaced within Iraq. As of July 31, 2007, the United States had resettled only 190 Iraqi refugees since October 2006. More than half of the 190 were backlogged cases of refugees who had fled Iraq long before the 2003 war started.

On June 19, 2007, U.S. Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) introduced a bi-partisan bill, called the "Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act," which would extend a lifeline to some of Iraq's most vulnerable refugees and displaced people, including those who have worked with the U.S. government, the U.S. media, or U.S. non-governmental groups. The bill will:

• Allow persecuted Iraqis with close work or family ties to the United States to apply directly for resettlement in the United States;

• Create 5,000 special immigrant visas (SIVs) for Iraqis who worked directly with the United States and call for protection of those who are in imminent danger of death;

• Ask the Secretary of State to work with refugee-hosting countries to develop long-term solutions and aid packages to help the vast majority of the Iraqi refugees who will remain in the region.

Desperate Situation for Embassy Employees

On July 7, 2007, U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker described the persecution of the Iraqis working for the United States in a cable to the State Department. He said that his local staff members were "targets for violence, including murder and kidnapping." Amb. Crocker urged the Administration to consider granting special immigrant visas to all Iraqis working for the U.S government. He stated, "[W]e believe they should all be treated equally; and we should reward [our Iraqi staff] for their sacrifice, loyalty, and dedication..."  

An Iraqi refugee family waits to register at the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) center in Douma, Syria.

Asylum Hurdles and Families Divided

Some Iraqi refugees have sought refuge in Europe and the United States. Only a small number have made it to the United States. In fiscal year 2006, only 511 Iraqis filed for asylum in the United States. These asylum seekers can face the same hurdles that plague other refugees in the asylum process, including detention in U.S. immigration jails. Once granted asylum, they face the tremendous difficulty of bringing their families to safety in this country.

Read UN statistics: 22,200 Iraqis seek asylum in industrial countries

U.S. Efforts to Resettle Iraqis Still Lag

In January 2008, just 375 Iraqis were resettled in the U.S. The number went up from December, but the pace is still far behind that necessary to reach the stated goal of 12,000 resettled by September 2008.

On February 4, the Departments of State and Homeland Security held a joint press briefing in which Senior Coordinator on Iraqi Refugee Issues Amb. James Foley said that they expected the pace to improve later this spring. To read the complete briefing, click here.

On January 28, the president signed into law the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007. The text of that legislation is here. Read Human Rights First’s February 1 press statement here.

Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement and Human Rights First Convene Meeting

Despite security improvements in certain parts of Iraq, violence persists and the humanitarian situation remains grim. In this complex emergency, millions of displaced Iraqis – both IDPs and refugees – face untold obstacles accessing basic needs of shelter, food and water, health care, and education. While there has been considerable discussion of these challenges and the growing need for assistance, less has been said about how to address the longer-term challenges. The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement and Human Rights First convened a meeting on January 25, 2008, to discuss potential solutions to the protection crisis and to plan strategically for the future. Participants considered various scenarios for security developments and their potential impact on both humanitarian action in Iraq and durable solutions for the displaced – in Iraq and throughout the region. It is hoped that this meeting will stimulate thinking – and concrete planning – for the future.

Read the Full Meeting Summary Report

 

Iraq: The Refugee Crisis Five Years On 

Five years into the war in Iraq, more than two million Iraqis are refugees outside of their country, and more than two million are displaced internally but unable to flee across the borders. Iraqis have been targeted for persecution and forced from their homes for virtually every reason imaginable. Women who encouraged their peers to participate in the constitutional referendum were threatened with death and driven out of the country. Sunni families searching for the bodies of their loved ones at the morgue in Baghdad have been kidnapped and brutalized. The churches, villages, and homes of Iraqi religious and ethnic minorities have been bombed and burned down.  Doctors, dentists, hairdressers, members of parliament, professors, men, women, and children have fled, abandoning property, careers, and their communities in fear.

Refugees in the region and internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Iraq urgently need humanitarian assistance, but the U.N. refugee agency may have to start cutting its assistance programs in June because the international community has failed to respond to its appeal for $261 million.  According to the United Nations, up to 100,000 of the most vulnerable refugees urgently need resettlement, but the United States—the global leader in refugee resettlement—has committed to taking only 12,000 this year. 

Perhaps worst of all, for Iraqis today, fleeing their country is no longer an option. It is a principle of international law that refugees not be turned back at the border. Jordan—a very small country—allowed some 500,000 Iraqis to enter, but began imposing restrictions in 2005 and effectively closed the border in January 2007. Syria kept its border open until October 2007, but now imposes a strict visa regime that excludes many refugees. Both countries have been overwhelmed and dismayed at the international community’s failure to share responsibility for the crisis.

On the fifth anniversary of the war, Human Rights First calls on the international community to fully fund the U.N. refugee agency’s appeal for Iraqi refugees and to provide bilateral assistance to countries hosting Iraqi refugees. We also ask President Bush to acknowledge the refugee crisis publicly and direct his agencies to take the lead in providing resettlement to the most vulnerable Iraqis and humanitarian aid to refugees and IDPs.

Human Rights First would also like to share the stories of three Iraqis we interviewed in Amman, Jordan, in September. The refugees’ names have been changed for their protection.

*** 

Sami, a father of three and a Sunni Muslim, fled Iraq after an assassination attempt against him and a mortar attack on his home.

“The Jaish al Mehdi began to wage war against the other militias in my neighborhood. On March 17, 2007, a mortar round hit our home. My younger daughters were playing in the yard.  Hana was killed immediately. Yasmin, who is 10, was hit by the explosion.  Her body is full of shrapnel now. She’s blind in one eye, and paralyzed below the waist. I couldn’t get any help from the government hospitals in Iraq because we are Sunni, so we fled to Jordan. Now, we can’t afford her medical care. An NGO is helping us pay for some physical therapy. They’re doing their best, but the funds are limited. I need 500 JDs for MRIs and kidney tests and I can’t pay. We have no savings left, and I’m not allowed to work here in Jordan. With the proper treatment she might be able to walk again. I used to have goals for myself, but now my only goal in life is to save this child. I would travel to any country in the world that would give her treatment.”

Khalid worked as an interpreter with the 3rd U.S. Cavalry in western Iraq. He showed us his bullet scars.

“After October 2003 I could no longer move freely because of my work as an interpreter. Extremists followed me. They shot at my car, and tried to bomb my house—my sister was injured. I have a scar from where one of their bullets grazed my head. Eventually, they kidnapped my younger brother on his way to college. They left a threat for the rest of us. It said, ‘We will kill all the men in your family and rape the women.’  Then I knew I had to disappear. I asked our commander for help escaping, but he just told me to wait until March, and so I fled to Jordan. For Iraqi refugees like me, yesterday was better than today, and today is better than tomorrow will be.”

Jana is a 12-year-old child from one of Iraq’s religious minorities, a Gnostic group called the Sabaeans.

“It was like hell in Iraq. Before the collapse of Saddam’s regime, nobody told us we were Sabaean. But after the collapse, the other children would call us infidels and point their fingers. They used to spit in our faces. We complained to our teachers. Our teachers told us, ‘You should be Muslims. You are not supposed to live in this country anymore.’ It got worse. They tried to kidnap me and my brother. They abducted many kids in my neighborhood. They kidnapped a girl I knew and threw her in the river. I was very frightened. We came to Jordan on July 11, 2005.”

Read timeline detailing U.S. government response to the Iraqi refugee crisis

Read letter to President Bush, Prime Minister Brown, and Prime Minister al-Maliki from Human Rights First and 23 other NGOs on the occasion of the five-year anniversary

April 8 Testimonies of Petraeus and Crocker Missing Critical Information

In their testimonies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 8, 2008, Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker implied that refugees and internally displaced Iraqis are or should be returning to their homes. In fact, returns are only acceptable when conditions are safe and secure in Iraq, and the UNHCR has stated that this is not the case at present.

Read HRF press statement on the testimonies

Read prepared statements of Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker from the hearings

 

U.S. Resettles 974 Iraqi Refugees in April

Improvement Welcome but Comprehensive Response Still Needed

Read HRF statement on April resettlement numbers

 

President Signs Technical Fix Amendment

On June 3, 2008, President Bush signed into law S.2829, which makes technical corrections to the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act (section 1244 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008). The fix makes available immediately 5,000 Special Immigrant Visas for Iraqi translators and certain other Iraqis who worked for the U.S. government. It also allows that Iraqi translators who applied for visas under a previous SIV program and were wait-listed due to a shortage of visas can be granted visas under the new program. The SIV application with complete instructions can be found on the USCIS website here.

Click here to read HRF statement

Click here to read the amendment

Click here to read transcript of June 3 press briefing by Amb. James Foley, State Department’s Senior Coordinator for Iraq Refugee Affairs

 

Human Rights First Urges Increased Iraqi Refugee Admissions for FY 2009

HRF welcomes the U.S. State Department's announcement that it has met its goal to resettle 12,000 Iraqi refugees in FY 2008. But the need remains enormous - the UN refugee agency estimates that 85,000 Iraqis "from the most vulnerable groups" will need resettlement in 2009. The U.S. should set an FY 2009 goal to bring at least 30,000 Iraqi refugees to our country.

Read HRF press statement 

Read Reuters article 

Read State Department press briefing (9/12/08)