Syria opens refugee clinics, insists refugees are temporary

Although Syria has closed its borders to Iraqi refugees, it remains host to the largest Iraqi population outside of Iraq itself. The Syrian government now finds itself in a difficult position: seeking to provide services for over a million people while trying to make it clear that it does not intend to become a permanent home for most of the refugees. Thus, we end up with the following stories:

The UNHCR is reporting that, in order to provide medical service to the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, the Syrian government has opened two clinics for refugees in Damascus. Meanwhile, Syria continues to insist it will do what it can to ensure that Iraqi refugees can eventually go home, while continuing to condemn the war itself.

The ability of the Syrian government to balance the pressures it faces will have a major impact on the lives of literally millions.

In Focus: Syria's closed border

The closure of the Syrian/Iraqi border earlier this month is a major development in the ongoing refugee crisis, the ramifications of which continue to ripple. Syria had long been the only place where many Iraqis could legally go to escape the violence in their home country. Now, with borders closed all around them and a high-tech wall going up on the Saudi side, for many if not most Iraqis, there is nowhere to run...

The New York Times offers this thorough report:

Syria Shuts Main Exit From War for Iraqis:
By THANASSIS CAMBANIS

...“The door is now closed to Iraqis in every direction,” said Sybella Wilkes, a spokeswoman here for the United Nations refugee agency. It is unclear whether Syria will enforce the rules for the Iraqis already in the country. United Nations officials believe Syria is likely to continue its practice of not deporting citizens of other Arab countries whose immigration status is illegal. Syria announced the new rules this summer and said they would take effect on Sept. 1. But it postponed their implementation and continued to accept refugees until Oct. 1. Under the old visa rules, Iraqis entered Syria without restriction and were allowed to remain for three months. Damascus has avoided any announcement about the policy since it took effect, leaving refugees and United Nations officials in a haze of uncertainty...

Read the complete article.

News Roundup: 10/24/07

Among desperate Iraqi refugees, prostitution a growing problem (From the International Herald Tribune): ...the problem is growing as thousands of Iraqis flee their homeland. Most troubling to some human rights groups is the possibility that ever-younger girls may turn to, or be pulled into, the sex trade, desperate to support families barely getting by...

Iraq refugees headed for Twin Falls, ID (From the Times-News): They fled their homeland because they helped the United States... A family of four Iraqis will arrive in Twin Falls from Jordan in the near future, but their exact arrival date is unknown... "It's like the army says, hurry up and wait," [College of Southern Idaho Refugee Service Center Director Ron Black] said.

Fire ravages UN refugee agency warehouses in Syria (UN News Centre): This story has been up for a few days, but is worth drawing attention to...

Commentary calls for international action on refugees

In The Guardian today, James Denselow discusses how options are narrowing for Iraqi refugees as Syria, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and others close their borders, and calls on the West to do something before the situation reaches disastrous proportions:

Indeed, with the Saudis building the world's most hi-tech fence and joining the Kuwaitis and the Jordanians in attempting to hermetically seal their border, the ways out for Iraqis are narrowing by the day. What's more the imminent Turkish incursion into northern Iraq may trigger a new wave of refugees that may find themselves running into cul-de sacs of no-go areas, literally unable to seek refuge. The nature of the heavy weaponry that Turkey is preparing on its border with Iraq, including armour and artillery, could reveal the gilded statue that is the Kurdish regional government (KRG), as being based on a bed of political quicksand, and the relative security of the north of the country could become a thing of the past...

Instead of waiting for such an inevitable tragedy to occur, steps must be taken now to reinforce the UNHCR and affiliated bodies with financial and political capital. This will take pressure off the neighbouring host countries and make clear that the refugee issue is separate from the myriad of political disputes that are currently in lay. Continued inaction sees the walls of the Iraqi labyrinth shift ever closer on those most vulnerable and that must not be allowed to happen.

Read the rest here.

Assistant Secretary of State offers upbeat assessment

In a recent interview published by the State Department, Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey offers a very optimistic report of the current refugee situation and the American response. Among the key questions and answers:

MR. MCCORMACK: Let's just start off with getting from you a little bit of an overview of where we stand now with respect to Iraqi refugees. I know we've set out some goals and we came pretty close to hitting the targets. Could you lay out for us right now where we are with respect to the goals and what we might expect over the next, say, six months to a year in terms of the number of refugees actually getting into the U.S.?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Sure. Our goals, though, are twofold. And the first goal, of course, is assistance to the larger quantity numbers of refugees that will remain in the region, and I'll come back to that. But in terms of your question about resettlement, we will resettle 12,000 this year. And I have no doubt that we will make that goal.

MR. MCCORMACK: So this -- this calendar year we'll have about 12,000?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Yes. We spent many months putting together a very complicated infrastructure. There are many moving parts in refugee resettlement, including the security clearance process, and getting all the pieces in place -- the diplomatic clearances, training the people that do the screening -- took time to get up and running, but it's running pretty smoothly now. And so I have no doubts that we will easily reach 12,000.

In terms of those Iraqis who have helped coalition forces:

MR. MCCORMACK: Let me ask you about the home front here. There are a lot of questions about what our responsibilities are to those Iraqis who work for us, whether it's for the military or for the State Department, in Iraq. What are we doing to help change the law so that we can meet our obligations to these people who work for us?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY SAUERBREY: Well, we have two ways that those that are affiliated with the U.S. in some way can enter the country. Through the refugee program, which of course, it's my bureau, whereby what is called a special immigrant visa. There actually are now about 800,000 that have come in on special immigrant visas and, as you know, over 1,600 that have come in through the refugee program.

They are greeted in the United States by a wonderful resettlement program that we have run by voluntary organizations, 365 individual affiliates throughout the country that meet the refugees. And we contract with them to provide initial shelter, household goods, to train new arrivals in the English language, skills training, get them enrolled in -- get the children enrolled in school, and most importantly to get them employed. We're very successful in getting them employed very quickly.

Read the rest of the interview here.

News: Syria's border closure hits Iraqi refugees

From Reuters:

"SAIDA ZEINAB, Syria, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Suffering kidney disease and living in a Damascus slum, Amal Jabar lost her only means of support when Syria closed its borders to Iraqi refugees a few weeks ago.

"My son Mostafa used to come and bring me whatever little he scraped together from odd jobs in Baghdad. I would be starving now if it wasn't for charity," said Jabar, who fled from the al-Amel district in Baghdad, a focus of sectarian fighting.

"The area is swamped with militias and Mostafa's life is in danger. He was planning to move to Syria, but now he cannot and I haven't heard from him," she said.

Syria's decision on Oct. 1 to shut its borders to Iraqi nationals, except merchants and academics, has disrupted lives of refugees, separated families and trapped thousands amid killings and upheaval, according to refugees and aid agencies.

With an estimated 1.4-2 million refugees constituting up to 10 percent of Syria's population, the government said it could no longer absorb more Iraqis, although thousands were crossing the border every day."...

Read the complete story.

News: A bitter life for Iraq's displaced

A wrenching report from the International Herald Tribune on Iraqis displaced within their own country and therefore not technically considered refugees by the United States or United Nations:

..."In Najaf, estimates of the number of the displaced ranges from 60,000 to more than 400,000. The official number is 10,000 families, or 60,000 people, since humanitarian organizations estimate that there are six people on average in each Iraqi family, according to the International Organization for Migration, which works with governments worldwide on refugee issues. The majority live in squatter villages far from services; there are about 1,700 in the refugee camp.

But Kammal Abdul Zahra, the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent's Najaf office, puts the real figure at about 400,000. That would be a 45 percent increase since the Samarra bombing, which marked the beginning of the mass migrations. Numbers are hard to estimate because some displaced families stay only a few months in one place and then move on.

Such a jump in population would present huge problems for cities in a developed country, let alone one in a less developed country still recovering from decades of war."

Read the complete story.

News: Money gone, Iraqi refugees reluctantly head back to uncertain future

From the Associated Press:

"Damascus, Syria: Their money gone, Iman Faleh and her family packed their belongings for Baghdad — a journey they said was like a trip to "death row."

The religiously mixed family — Iman is a Sunni but the others are Shiites — fled their home in a mostly Shiite part of east Baghdad in July and took refuge in Syria, joining an estimated 1.5 million other Iraqis here.

But in early fall, they became part of a growing wave of Iraqis leaving Syria for home — not because they are confident of Iraq's future, but because they ran out of money."

Read the complete story

Resettlement Stories: 10/20/07

Iraq Refugees Expected to Make Their Way to Idaho - Watch this local news segment from Boise's CBS News 2 about the State's new incoming residents.

Translator Flees Iraq to Settle in Ithaca - "ITHACA — For a man who was forced to flee his homeland — losing almost all his worldly possessions and life savings in the process — Dhia Abed Waheed is surprisingly genial. A native Iraqi and former translator for the U.S. Army, Dhia is here now and is looking for work"...

Iraqi Refugees Move to Ohio - "CLEVELAND Khwater Nayef has two college degrees and was a school principal in Iraq. Her next job will likely be washing dishes or cleaning hotel rooms. She and her three children are among the first Iraq war refugees to settle in Ohio. As she tries to start over, she constantly thinks about the husband she left behind. "I miss him," she said, not knowing if he is already dead"...

News: Iraqi Interpreters Grateful for U.S. Troops' Support

"Abood al-Khafajee and his family settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., in June. They had to leave Iraq after al-Khafajee, who had worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Marines, was threatened with death.

Back in Iraq, he was warned that Americans hate Muslims. But in Brooklyn, he found friendly neighbors. What he failed to find were other Iraqis. He is one of the few allowed to resettle in the United States. And he doesn't quite believe it yet."

Listen to the complete story on NPR.

News: UNHCR urges Europe to take in Iraqi refugees

"BRUSSELS: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on Europe to accept more asylum seekers from conflict-torn Iraq. "Keeping the asylum door open in Europe is absolutely crucial in the present moment," Guterres said before a meeting in Brussels with EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini."

Read the complete story at the Daily Star.

News: Iraqi Refugees Find Sanctuary in Bay Area

"FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 16, 2007 (KGO) - Refugees from Iraq are now settling in the Bay Area... Local relief agencies are ready to help. Hana Toma, her mother and sisters are adjusting to her new home in Fremont."

Watch the story from KGO-TV, ABC 7 News in the Bay Area.

TLP In The News: From Mother Jones

"Kirk Johnson: Of the Iraqis who are currently working at the U.S. embassy, none of them whom I've spoken with feel like they are going to be taken care of. There was a Christian couple that was killed about four months ago. The husband was a senior translator; his wife also worked in the embassy for years. He was kidnapped. When the wife went to pay the ransom, they killed both of them. Every killing is succeeded by a wave of Iraqis leaving because the presumption is that any U.S. government employee who was kidnapped was tortured and gave the names of other Iraqis who were working with them.

There is no way for Iraqis in country to get U.S. visas. If an Iraqi faces a death threat, he must follow assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration Ellen Sauerbrey's advice and forge his way into Jordan or Syria and stand outside of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees offices. Somebody who shows up at UNHCR in Damascus won't get an interview until spring 2008. And that's just one of three interviews where they're asked roughly the same questions. Even if they get an American visa, they have to go back to Iraq and then come back when it's ready. It's appallingly slow and labyrinthine...

If you don't step back from the situation and remember that we have done it before, [for example] 10, 15 years or so ago with 14,000 ethnic Albanians. Put them on C-130s and process them all on American military bases. Fly them here and process them here. You can forget that this is what presidents are here for and this is what leadership means. If you cut through this mountain of bureaucracies through leadership and say, "This is what we have to do."

Click here for full interview.

TLP In The News: From Newsweek

"...What seems to be lacking at the State Department and other branches of the government is a sense of urgency. While the danger posed to Iraqis who worked for the United States continues to rise, the process of seeking sanctuary in America remains difficult and drawn out. For one thing, Iraqis must still leave their country before they can even request shelter—a proviso now complicated by the fact that Jordan and Syria have closed their borders to refugees. Once abroad, applicants get screened first by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and then by a separate American panel to determine how desperate their situation really is—and whether sanctuary is essential. Those who qualify can languish for months until officials from the Department of Homeland Security fly out to conduct an additional screening (though not in Syria, since the authorities there won't grant entry visas to DHS officials). When the State Department was criticized earlier this year for the slow pace, Sauerbrey promised that 7,000 Iraqi refugees would be welcomed in by the end of the year. The number was later downgraded to 2,000, but even that goal seems likely to go unmet.

Sauerbrey told NEWSWEEK the Bush administration had done plenty to help the refugees get by in their host countries, including providing millions to Jordan to shore up its overburdened school system. But she also appeared to downplay the scope of the problem. She disputed that 2 million Iraqis had already fled the country—the figure cited by the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations—and she said most of the refugees are hopeful about their prospects of returning home. "Iraqis have not given up on Iraq," Sauerbrey said. "Iraqis want to go home." It's that kind of talk that prompts some critics to ascribe a political motive to the Bush administration's sluggishness. "The administration could cut through the red tape and bring these people here in days or weeks," says Kirk Johnson, who worked in Fallujah for the United States government's Agency for International Development. "But that would be tantamount to admitting the situation isn't getting better in Iraq, and they're unwilling to admit that." (Sauerbrey denied that any of the decisions in the process are politically motivated.)"

Click here for full story.

TLP In The News: From UK Reuters

" NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Ahmed Abassi once worked for the U.S. government in Iraq but fled with his family in fear, hoping to seek refuge in the United States.

Two years later with his life savings gone and his family stuck in the United Arab Emirates, he is still afraid to return to Iraq where he could be targeted by militias.

And like many Iraqis in the same situation, he now doubts he will ever gain refugee status in the United States.

Kirk Johnson, a former U.S. advisor in Iraq, hopes to change that. He has launched an effort to bring Iraqis who once worked for the U.S. government, the military or U.S. contractors to the United States.

"It gnaws away at all of us that so many of the Iraqis that helped us function are now running for their lives," said Johnson, describing them as "the "most hunted class in Iraq"...

Read complete story

News: UN raises ceiling on staff levels in Iraq

The United Nations is increasing its humanitarian presence in Baghdad, raising "the ceiling on the number of international staff allowed to work in Baghdad from 65 to 85".

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations has raised its limit on the number of international staff it can send to Iraq as it tries to expand its operations there, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile a new report by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon distributed said humanitarian conditions in Iraq had worsened, despite the number of civilian casualties falling in September to the lowest number for the year.

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Ban had decided to raise the ceiling on the number of international staff allowed to work in Baghdad from 65 to 85, after a Security Council resolution in August urged the world body to boost its role.

Click here for the full story from Reuters.

TLP In The News: Listen to Kirk Johnson on NPR

Kirk Johnson, was featured on National Public Radio's "Here and Now" program on 10/18/2007. Click here to listen.

Future of this Blog

This blog will soon be a central news hub on the issue of Iraqi refugees who are endangered because they worked with the Coalition.