UN High Commissioner Guterres assesses Iraqi refugee crisis

Last week, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres ended a week-long trip to Syria, Jordan, and Iraq to asses the situation of millions of Iraqi refugees in the region. One of the issues Guterres discussed with the Iraqi government was a proposed joint assessment of conditions required for the voluntary, safe, and sustainable return of refugees. Several days later, the BBC intimated that Guterres believed that safe returns would soon be possible in an article with the unfortunate headline "UN hints at Iraq refugee returns.”

The UN refugee agency has consistenly and unequivocally stated that they do not believe that conditions currently exist for voluntary, safe, and sustainable returns. According to the UN standard, returning refugees should be confident of their legal safety (non-discrimination and freedom of fear from persecution), physical safety, and material security.

It is also absolutely key that returns are voluntary—the free choice of the refugees. To understand whether a return is voluntary, the UN has to evaluate whether the primary reason for return is improvements in the situation in the refugee’s country of origin, or push factors in the refugee’s country of asylum. For Iraqis living in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, we know that the push factors—economic desperation, lack of access to work, education, and health care, lack of legal status—are very strong.

In the coming year, more refugees may be pushed to return to Iraq involuntarily, because they cannot survive in Syria, Jordan, or Egypt. Other Iraqis may decide to take their chances and go back for personal reasons, voluntarily but before the UN refugee agency believes that the conditions, broadly, are safe and secure. In this situation, the UNHCR has the responsibility to facilitate the decisions of individuals who choose to go home, and to work with the Iraqi government to protect and support the returnees. This cannot be interpreted more broadly as a statement on the security situation inside Iraq, much less an affirmative promotion of returns.

UN Emergency Appeal: $265 Million Needed to Help Iraqis

Earlier today the United Nations launched an emergency appeal, on behalf of 14 UN agencies and 10 NGOs, for $265 million to deliver urgent relief to Iraqis. One of the goals of the appeal is to deliver food to internally displaced Iraqis who are having difficulty accessing food rations through the Iraqi government’s public distribution system. Read the UN release here.

According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, some 2.4 million Iraqis are internally displaced, an estimated 4 million need food aid, and only 40 of the population has consistent access to safe drinking water.

February 5 Panel in NYC on Iraqi Refugee Crisis and Arts Advocacy

The polls don’t close till 9 pm tomorrow night, so there’s time for New Yorkers to attend an important panel discussion at Fordham University. Human Rights First is co-sponsoring the panel along with Fordham University and the Nailya Alexander Gallery. It’s entitled “Iraqi Citizens: War and Exile.” The panelists will address topics including the consequences of the Iraq war for Iraqis – more than 4 million of whom have fled their homes – the potential for visual artists to bring public attention to human rights issues, and the relationship between visual arts, human rights advocacy, and policy change. A question-and-answer session will follow. The panel’s in conjunction with a photo exhibit at the Nailya Alexander Gallery by photojournalist Lori Grinker – which received a nice notice in the New Yorker last week. The exhibit was also written up in January in the Huffington Post.

Complete info: Tuesday, February 5, 2008, 7 to 9 pm, Fordham University Lincoln Center, 113 W. 60th Street at Columbus Avenue, Room 816. Panelists include Lori Grinker, HRF advocate Amelia Templeton, former Iraqi translator Nour Al-Khal, and WITNESS communications and outreach coordinator Matisse Bustos Hawkes, and the conversation will be moderated by Fred Ritchin. It’s free, but seating is limited, so please RSVP to martinezb@humanrightsfirst.org.