Resettlement of Iraqi refugees on track; Foley leaves State

Good news on the resettlement front – the United States resettled 1,900 Iraqis in June, for a fiscal year 2009 total of 13,537. Last September, the government set a goal of bringing 17,000 vulnerable Iraqi refugees to safety in the United States during the course of the year. Nine months into the fiscal year, they’ve met 80 percent of that goal. It’s by far the best U.S. resettlement effort since this humanitarian crisis began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Much credit is due to Ambassador James Foley, who has served as Senior Coordinator for Iraqi Refugee Issues in the State Department since September 2007. When he came on board, U.S. resettlement efforts for Iraqis began to improve, and the improvement has been steady and much welcome. Last month, President Obama nominated Ambassador Foley to be U.S. ambassador to Croatia (he previously served as ambassador to Haiti from 2003 to 2005). It’s unclear whether he’ll be replaced in the State Department. We hope that Ambassador Foley’s departure doesn’t indicate a decreasing commitment to resettlement of the most vulnerable Iraqis – particularly as the United States military disengages from Iraq.

UNHCR Asks for $261 Million to Help Iraqi Refugees

We’re a few days late on this news, but it’s gotten limited media coverage this week – on January 8, the UNHCR announced an appeal to donors for $261 million for Iraqi refugee programs for 2008. The Iraq Situation Supplementary Appeal covers UNHCR operations and health, education, and direct assistance programs for the 2.2 million Iraqi refugees in the region as well as the 2 million IDPs in Iraq. Last year’s UNHCR appeal garnered $152 million for its programs assisting Iraqi refugees and IDPs – so their need increased more than $100 million for the upcoming year.

Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Amb. James Foley, the State Department’s Senior Coordinator on Iraqi Refugee Issues, said in November, “. . . the needs of [Iraqi] refugees will be increasing substantially in the period to come, as will therefore the requirement for international assistance. The bottom line [is] that this unique urban refugee population, which is quite different from refugee populations elsewhere in the world because it’s urban, will be facing increased hardship as the means and the savings that they brought with them from Iraq are depleted over time.”

The UN refugee agency’s press release notes that of the approximately 21,000 Iraqi refugee resettlement cases it referred for consideration to host countries, only 4,500 Iraqis had actually been resettled as of early December. The number resettled in the U.S. in 2007 was just 2,631.

We hope to see the U.S. government lead the way by contributing generously to this year’s UNHCR appeal. It’s the least we can do to assist the 4 million-plus refugees whose lives have been upended as a result of the war in Iraq.