The UN and Iraqi Refugees - Is It Really News?

The UN refugee agency just released a new analysis of the political and security situation in Iraq, and revised its guidelines as to how countries should handle asylum claims from Iraqis fleeing their Iraq. The guidelines essentially form a 250-page encyclopedia of Iraq’s various forms of ongoing violence and conflict. Somebody should put a copy on Ambassador Chris Hill’s desk when he gets back from Iraq, and he ought to read it cover to cover.

The big news in the report – from the media’s perspective – has been that UNHCR has determined that security has improved significantly throughout Iraq, and in particular in the south and in the western governorate of Al-Anbar. UNHCR is now saying that general security is good enough in these areas that Iraqis who flee them should not automatically be considered refugees, but instead should be dealt with on a case by case basis to determine if they faced individual persecution – changing the practice that’s been in place since 2007. But for the most part, in this report UNHCR describes a very fragile situation, where violent and criminal groups operate with impunity throughout the country, militias that are currently laying low still have the ability to pursue and murder their enemies, and the government provides little effective protection. In light of all this, the UN is still arguing for automatic international protection for all Iraqis fleeing Baghdad and the more diverse central parts of the country—the origins of the vast majority of refugees to date.

The guidelines highlight many troubling trends, but one of the most troubling, from the standpoint of human rights protection – and also Iraq’s future – is the ongoing murder of educated professionals. According to the UN guidelines, no single profession has been particularly targeted; rather the victims “came from a wide spectrum of disciplines, including medicine, engineering, science, art, education and others.”

I’ll never forget an interview I conducted with an Iraqi artist in Amman in 2007. She recounted the story of sitting in her dentist’s waiting room one day when a gunman walked in the door and shot the dentist to death. An Iraqi doctor I know well, who is now a deputy in Al-Maliki’s government, told me he used to pass medical students who weren’t competent to practice because he feared they would have him assassinated if he failed them.

Here’s what the UN guidelines say about the targeting of professionals, by the numbers:

--Doctors and medical personnel killed: in the thousands
--Judges, judicial workers, and their family members killed and kidnapped: at least 230
--Academics: several hundred killed, several in the first few months of 2009.

As for the means of death: “The majority of the victims were shot by gunmen, sometimes after having been kidnapped and tortured. Typically, they were targeted in their classroom/office or on their way to and from work.”

The UN refugee agency also suggests that patterns of violence in Iraq are increasingly political in nature, as sectarian violence has decreased and elections and a national census approach. A final interesting point: the guidelines suggest that the lines between actors who provide security in Iraq and actors who are involved in violence are “often blurred,” noting that the Awakening groups may sometimes align with Al Qaeda in Iraq and parts of the Iraqi national police still hold militia affiliations. This is particularly problematic for refugees and internally displaced people trying to return to their neighborhoods. On a recent trip to Washington, Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wigdam Salim noted that several refugee families have informed her Ministry that the people who forced them out of their homes are now officially in charge of security for the area. That’s not a good sign – Iraq’s ability to provide real security for returning families is questionable. The encouraging points in the UN’s new report should not obscure the reality that Iraq is still not safe. The guidelines spell it out: “The improvement of the situation in Iraq does not yet constitute fundamental changes sufficient to promote or encourage massive returns to Iraq.”

Iraqi immigrants in the U.S.

The Migration Information Source released a demographic overview of Iraqi immigrants in the United States earlier this month. It looks at pre-2008 date from the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Census Bureau, so it doesn't reflect the presence of refugees who arrived in 2008 or 2009. Rather, it provides insight into the Iraqi communities in the United States that newly arrived refugees may join as they rebuild their lives here. Check it out.

USCIS/DHS Guidance for Iraqi Refugees

U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a very useful fact sheet last week that provides an overview of Iraqi refugee processing, with guidelines for Iraqis who wish to apply for refugee status, for asylum, or for the Special Immigrant Visa program. Check it out here.

Iraqi Refugee Blueprint for the Obama Administration

The new year has finally arrived, and it is a year of many changes. Today, the new U.S. embassy in Baghdad officially opened. On January 1, control of the Green Zone passed to the Iraqis in accordance with the new status of forces agreement. And, of course, in just two weeks we’ll see a changing of the guard in the leadership of the U.S. government when Barack Obama is sworn in as President of the United States.

President-elect Obama made repeated commitments to address the Iraqi humanitarian crisis during the campaign. His plan for Iraq notably includes a $2 billion pledge to assist displaced Iraqis. We have learned that the $2 billion pledge remains a target, despite the inevitable constraints created by the global financial crisis. At the end of December, Human Rights First released a comprehensive blueprint of recommendations for the Obama administration – How to Confront the Iraqi Refugee Crisis. You can read it here.

The blueprint was informed by a recent month-long mission in Syria and Jordan conducted by me and my colleague, Amelia Templeton, as well as by the advocacy we’ve undertaken over the past year and a half on the crisis. In it, we call on the incoming administration to strengthen oversight and effectiveness of refugee assistance, to ensure that the Iraqi government refrains from pressuring refugees to return home before they can do so in safety, and to place a coordinator for Iraqi refuges in the White House. The blueprint contains detailed recommendations to these ends.

We’d love to hear your comments, and please do join us in calling on President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden, future Secretary of State Clinton, future Secretary of DHS Napolitano, and the rest of the administration to fulfill the United States’ moral obligations – and to respond to our strategic imperatives – in the Middle East by undertaking a thoughtful and comprehensive strategy to deal with the refugee crisis.

In Memory of Arthur Helton

Today we remember Arthur C. Helton – a dedicated advocate for refugees and displaced people – who died in the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad on August 19, 2003.

A lawyer and human rights advocate, Mr. Helton worked at Human Rights First, then the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, from 1982 to 1994, where he led the Refugee Protection Program and created the asylum pro bono representation project – an initiative that has grown over the years and now provides representation to over 1,000 asylum seekers each year.

In 1994, Mr. Helton went on to establish the Forced Migration Project at the Open Society Institute, and then joined the Council of Foreign Relations as the Director of Peace and Conflict Studies and the Senior Fellow for Refugee Studies and Preventive Action in 1999.

Mr. Helton devoted his life to protecting the rights of those displaced in times of conflict and was widely respected as an expert on refugee and migration issues. He was at the forefront of legislative battles and was a crucial voice in shaping U.S. national policy on refugees and asylum seekers. He wrote extensively on the U.S. and the international community’s response to refugee crises and was a leading advisor to the United Nations on refugee issues, pushing for strong refugee protection policies. Mr. Helton was known especially for the work he did on the Indo-Chinese refugee crisis in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and on the refugee movements following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Human Rights First continues to turn to Mr. Helton’s memory as a model of commitment to the development of sound and moral policy regarding refugees, in the U.S. and across the globe. One year ago, we launched an advocacy project specifically devoted to the Iraqi refugee crisis – the greatest displacement in the Middle East since 1948. We think of Mr. Helton’s work daily as we carry out our own in our New York and DC offices.

Though I never had the privilege of meeting Mr. Helton, I have been lucky enough to be able to honor his legacy as the Arthur C. Helton Fellow working in Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection and Lifeline for Iraqi Refugees programs. My work has led me to interact with many who knew him personally – as a colleague, an academic advisor, a friend, and a mentor – and they have all left me with the same impression: Mr. Helton was not only a man who worked to change the lives of millions, but one who inspired those he met – and some, like myself, who never had the chance to meet him – to carry on his tradition of commitment to the protection of the rights of the displaced.

Jessica Chicco
Arthur C. Helton Fellow
Refugee Protection Program
Human Rights First

Voices of Iraqis in Egypt - Website Launched

According to the latest UNHCR numbers, 40,000 to 100,000 Iraqis have fled to Egypt. It's a wide range because it's very difficult to get accurate numbers especially for an urban refugee population. Regardless of the figure, Egypt is clearly a major destination, alongside Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran, for Iraqis who cannot live in safety in their own country.

We've been working with a filmmaker in Cairo who put together an excellent short documentary about Iraqi refugees living in Egypt. Most do not have permanent status in Egypt; their futures are uncertain, and their access to health care, education, and jobs is extremely limited. Joshua van Praag, along with other advocates based in Cairo - Dr. Barbara Harrell-Bond (founder/ Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford) and Janet McGiffin - just launched a comprehensive website focusing on Iraqis in Egypt. You should check out the film, and you can also read or listen to the stories of many Iraqis living in Egypt, in their own voices.

Embassy in Baghdad Announces Visa Program for Iraqis Who Helped the U.S.

We were surprised and pleased to see on Thursday that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad announced the launch of a program that will provide 5,000 special immigrant visas each year for the next five years to Iraqis who worked for the U.S. military or private contractors for at least a year since 2003 and are experiencing or have experienced an ongoing serious threat in Iraq as a result of their employment.

This program, of course, is mandated by the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, which President Bush signed into law in January 2008. (The Embassy press release references legislation in June, but that was simply an amendment that clarified that the new SIV program would be open for business in FY 08 and not FY 09.) Implementation of the law has been incremental - often but not always for legitimate logistical reasons - and so the public commitment of the State Department and Embassy Baghdad are welcome steps.

Notable media coverage last week:

• New York Times
• Los Angeles Times
• Washington Post
• Associated Press
• Reuters UK
• CNN

An important distinction, sometimes missed by reporters, is the difference between the U.S. refugee resettlement program and the SIV program. Both programs provide paths for Iraqis to come to the U.S. and eventually establish permanent residence here - though it takes months and even years for the relevant applications to pass through all stages of adjudication and security clearance - but the routes are distinct. The U.S. set a goal of bringing 12,000 Iraqi refugees here in FY 08 (10/1/07 - 9/30/08) through the refugee resettlement program. The 12K is out of a total of 28,000 for the Near East/South Asia region, and a global cap of 80,000. Separately, the U.S. will make available 5,000 SIVs each year for five years to Iraqis who worked with the U.S. government or contractors (and additional visas for their immediate family). An earlier SIV program, under a different law, provided visas for Iraqi and Afghan translators. (State Department FAQs on that program can be found here.)

And like all immigration applications, these are rigorously reviewed by U.S. government agencies - an application is by no means a guarantee of admission to the U.S.

Other helpful resources on the SIV program that was mandated by the Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act:

• State Department FAQs on the SIV program
  
• USCIS fact sheet on the SIV program (July 9)
• USCIS fact sheet on immigration options for Iraqis (July 15)
• I-360 instructions (updated May 27)
• DHS guidance on SIV program adjudication (July 7)
  
• State Department guidance on SIV adjudication (June 18)