News: Iraqi Ministry of Defense to Evict 300 Displaced Citizens

The IRIN humanitarian news service has recently reported that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense will evict 300 internally displaced people who have established residence in a former military base in Babil Province. The ministry has given the internal refugees a week to relocate and according to the provincal director of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, Qais al-Zubaidi, such a quick relocation will not be without difficulty:

Al-Zubaidi added that a provincial committee had been formed to find a solution
for these families; either by re-housing them in an abandoned government
building or by erecting a new camp for them.

"But most probably we will get a piece of land in the suburbs [of Hilla] from the city's municipality to erect more than 100 tents for them and supply them with food and non-food items," al-Zubaidi said. "It is indeed a problem. It will be difficult for us to
erect a camp in four or five days as we are in winter and it is raining nowadays. Because of that we need more time."

For internally displaced persons, the difficulty in securing living space is exacerbated by governmental actions such as this which offers minimal compensation.

In Focus: Iraqi refugees with little options

This blog has tried to bring attention to the plight of Iraqi refugees who have fled to other parts of the region including Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Now a new UN report sheds light onto the struggles of Iraqi refugees living in Egypt. While UNHCR has registered just under 10,000 Iraqis in the country, various NGOs estimate a much higher figure that ranges from 100,000 to 150,000. Like others displaced by this conflict, many are being forced to consider a return home even though it is not safe. As reported in IRIN, the UN's news website aimed at raising awareness on humanitarian issues:

While resettlement by UNHCR is hoped for but not necessarily forthcoming, some Iraqis in Egypt say they are returning home due to dried up funds, as opposed to security improvements.

Um Omar, a 58-year-old widow who arrived in Egypt about a year ago, said she was considering returning to Iraq due to a lack of alternatives, though she fears the violence she would face there. She told IRIN that last year two of her sister’s daughters were killed when a bomb went off in a mosque in the al-Kah’kh neighbourhood of Baghdad.

“I am between heaven and hell,” she said. “Life in Baghdad is expensive and I am scared to return.”

With the outlook for Iraqi refugees steadily and endlessly worsening, it is an especially pressing time for the US to make sure its commitment to accept 12,000 Iraqis during the 2008 Fiscal Year is not simply rhetoric.

Video: Iraqi Refugees at Work in Syria

Alive in Baghdad, a video-news blog, presents videos of the everyday lives of Iraqis. Iraqi refugees in Syria speak about their work and living conditions in the video below.

News: The US Will Likely Default on Refugee Promise

George Packer of The New Yorker, is skeptical that the US will admit the 12,000 Iraqi refugees in the fiscal year that it has promised:

Two months ago, I mentioned the State Department’s latest promise to resettle twelve thousand Iraqis in the United States in the coming fiscal year. Since then, the monthly totals have dropped from 450 in October to 362 in November and 245 last month. At this rate, the government will have to admit almost eleven thousand Iraqi refugees in the next nine months—more than twelve hundred a month—in order to achieve its own goal: doubtful.

In the same blog post, Packer comments on the departure of the lead State Department official on refugees, Ellen Sauerbrey, as well as his latest proposal to shame President Bush into resettling more Iraqi allies in the US.

News: UNHCR seeking $261 million to aid Iraqi refugees

In an effort to respond to an increasingly dire situation, the UN refugee agency has requested a significant increase in funds to aid Iraq's internally displaced and refugee populations. The $261 million (close to $100 more than the 2007 budget) request for 2008 would go towards projects that provide direct financial assistance to Iraqi families and enroll more Iraqi children in schools. The collection of these funds are largely dependent on government contributions. To read the UNHCR press release, click here.

U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis Discussed in Presidential Debate

Helping those that help us is not a partisan concern but an American imperative. While The List Project endorses no candidate, we were heartened to hear the plight of the Iraqis who are at risk due to their affiliation with the United States of America finally mentioned in one of the presidential debates:

Senator Clinton: "I don't think anyone can predict what the consequences will be, and I think we have to be ready for whatever they might be. We have to figure out what we're going to do with the 100,000-plus American civilians who are there working at the embassy, working for not-for- profits or American businesses. We have to figure out what we're going to do about all the Iraqis who sided with us, you know, like the translators who helped the Marines in Fallujah, whom I met, who said they wouldn't have survived without them. Are we going to leave them?"

We hope Senator Clinton's remarks spur the other candidates in both parties into considering the import of this issue. Whoever is elected President this fall will have to address the refugee crisis, as it is becoming increasingly clear that President Bush is either disinclined or apathetic. After all, he has yet to utter a syllable recognizing the world's fastest-growing refugee problem...

News: The World Food Programme Aids Iraqis

Monsters and Critics has reported that the United Nations World Food Programme is starting a program for emergency food assistance for internally displaced Iraqis and Iraqi refugees in Syria.

A recent UN assessment, conducted in collaboration with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, revealed that about a third of Iraqi respondents living in Syria said they skipped one meal a day to feed their children, while 60 per cent said they were buying less expensive foods, often less nutritious, to cope with rising prices.

The World Food Programme website has more information on its efforts in Iraq.

News: Iraqi Refugee Resettlement Challenges

In an NPR news broadcast, featured on All Things Considered, Deborah Amos reports on the challenges faced by Iraqi refugees stalled in the resettlement process. Discussed in the broadcast are findings from a new UN report that one-third of Iraqi refugees living in Syria will run out of money within the next three months. The UN report is also referenced in a recent US News and World Report article.

One of the refugees profiled in the NPR story is included on TLP's list of Iraqis who should be resettled in the United States. His work with USAID earned him death threats that forced him to flee to Syria. Now the bureaucratic process has left him in a state of despair:

"He's given up on resettlement and on the US government that trusted him in Baghdad, but he believes doesn't trust him enough to admit him to the United States."