Feature: Iraq Action Days in Washington, DC

From April 14 to 16, a diverse coalition of non-profit organizations sponsored a conference on the worsening Iraqi refugee crisis. The goal of the three-day activity was to raise awareness concerning the dire situation faced by refugees, mobilize support for concrete action, provide resources for citizens involvement and offer policy recommendations. Consensus was reach on several topics:

* Vulnerable Iraqis who are in Iraq or who have fled to neighboring countries are in immediate and urgent need of the most basic humanitarian assistance.
* The United States should strengthen support to non-governmental organizations assisting vulnerable Iraqis and should fund at least 50 percent of amounts requested in appeals from international organizations providing humanitarian support to Iraqis.
* Many displaced Iraqis will never be able to return home safely. The United States should expedite the resettlement of vulnerable Iraqis and vastly increase the number admitted.
* The United States should significantly increase humanitarian assistance to countries hosting Iraqi refugees to ease the strain on their national systems, as well as press Iraq and other countries to also respond generously to meet these needs.

On the policy forum website, you can view refugee profiles, follow links to contact your senator, or read in-depth articles on the crisis.

What Patraeus and Crocker Didn't Mention

The Mosaic Intelligence Report comments on what Patraeus, Crocker, and the quizzing senators failed to mention, via DailyKos:



In the world of policy, a new legal case may set a precedent for a tougher UK asylum policy. The Guardian reports:

The United Nations last night accused the government of holding a 'sword of Damocles' over the heads of Iraqi refugees in Britain after it emerged that the Home Office had won a landmark test case giving it the power to return refugees to war-torn parts of their home country, including Basra and Baghdad.

But following the tribunal's decision, the government now has the power to remove anyone to any part of Iraq. 'We are pleased that the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has agreed with our view and found that conditions in Iraq are such that an ordinary individual Iraqi civilian is not at serious risk from indiscriminate violence,' a spokesman for the Home Office said.

The tribunal ruling has wide implications for Iraqi asylum seekers. It stated: 'Neither civilians in Iraq generally, nor civilians even in provinces and cities worst affected by the armed conflict, can show they face a "serious and individual threat" to their "life or person"... merely by virtue of being civilians.'

This ruling is similar to a recent one in Sweden that also insisted that asylum seekers from Iraq prove that there is a direct and individual threat to their person, rather than a general threatening environment that results from war.

News: Congress and the Iraqi Refugee Crisis

This past Tuesday, the mayor of Södertälje, a city in Sweden, testified before Congress on Sweden's handling of the Iraqi refugee crisis. The mayor, Anders Lago, spoke with presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, who Anders reports as saying:

"He said word for word that he was ashamed that the United States didn't take greater responsibility for Iraqi refugees. Then he praised Sweden and Södertälje for how we've dealt with the issue."

Anders also testified that the city of Södertälje, a city of 80,000, has settled more Iraqi refugees than the entire US and Canada combined.

On the same day as Anders testimony, senators Joe Biden and Ed Kennedy sent a proposal to the White House outlining their vision of ameliorating the crisis. Congressional Quarterly reports that the senators seek to establish a coordinator for Iraqi refugee affairs, increase financing of UN refugee operations from approximately 25% to 50%, and increase the pace of US refugee resettlement to meet the 12,000 goal.

Angelina Jolie steals some spotlight from Patreus to highlight Iraqi Refugees

We at The List Project Blog are generally an average looking bunch, so we always appreciate it when someone more aesthetically gifted gives his or her megaphone to the plight of Iraqi refugees. Yesterday, as General David Patreus gave his much anticipated report to the Senate, Oscar-winning actress and humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie brought the issue of Iraqi child refugees to the forefront in an appearance before the Council on Foreign Relations.

Watch the video highlights online:



The Washington Post reports:

Angelina Jolie nearly stole the limelight from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker yesterday with her own remarks on Iraq at the Council on Foreign Relations, which had to move the standing-room-only event to the ballroom of the Washington Club to accommodate the crowd and television cameras. Paparazzi and gawkers swarmed outside.

The actress's appearance on a panel discussing the plight of more than 1 million Iraqi child refugees was less upbeat than that of the U.S. officials who testified before two Senate committees yesterday.

"This population we're talking about is the future of Iraq," said Jolie, who has traveled twice to Iraq over the past year, as well as to Syria to visit Iraqi refugees. "So to reach them now, to help deal with their trauma and refocus their minds on a possible future should absolutely be one of our top priorities. We need these kids. . . . We need them to rebuild their country, to stabilize their country and eventually lead their country."

Refugee Stories

The following video podcast, via Our Man Inside, explores what life is like for Iraqi refugees in Jordan.



Also, check out this blog, named Baghdad Burning, written by an Iraqi refugee in Syria. An excerpt:

By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.

Hat tip: The Ground Truth in Iraq blog.

Video of the Matthew J. Ryan Law and Public Policy Forum: The Iraqi Refugee Crisis: Law, Policy and Practice

It is good to see a thorough discussion under way

See CSPAN's Video:
rtsp://video.c-span.org/project/iraq/iraq040408_refugee.rm

From the University's web site: "This year’s Ryan Forum on Law and Public Policy brings together leading legal scholars, legislators, government officials and other public figures in a bipartisan atmosphere of frank discussion and analysis of these and other legal and political ramifications of this humanitarian crisis."

News: UNHCR Reports New Number of Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has reported that internally displaced persons (IDP) in Iraq are now estimated to be 2.77 million people. The report states that the increase of 300,000 people since the last count in December 2007 is largely due to a improved data entry and not a severe rise in IDP. The report notes:

new displacement is continuing at a much lower pace than in the previous two years, which is partly due to the presence of more homogenous communities, districts and neighbourhoods; consequent media information campaigns; a decrease in security incidents; restriction of freedom of movement in many Iraqi governorates; and exhaustion of resources for many families.

New secondary displacement has been reported in Baghdad, however. Many of the Iraqis who decided to return to Iraq the end of last year – often after having run out of resources – found themselves displaced again in Baghdad as property had been destroyed, looted or occupied. A total of 40 percent of surveyed IDPs in Baghdad fled due to direct threats and forced eviction from their property, while between 10-17 percent fled due to generalized violence and fear.

It is interesting to note that the report states that many refugees, likely from Syria and Jordan, who have returned to Iraq now find themselves as internally displaced persons and are unable to settle in their old homes and neighborhoods.

News: Increase in Iraqis Admitted to US Still Behind Pace

In March, 751 Iraqi refugees were admitted into the U.S. This marks a sharp increase from February (444) and January (375), which is an improvement that should be recognized. Still, as reported by the Associated Press:

The new count puts total admissions for the current budget year, which began Oct. 1, at 2,627. That gives the administration six months to admit 9,373 more refugees to hit its goal of 12,000 — or about 1,562 each month.

As the AP story points out, the March figures represent a significant improvement but the administration has a long way to their goal for this fiscal year. Without the White House stepping in and publicly addressing this vital issue, hope for admitting a significant amount of refugees in 2008 is fading away.