Repatriation: Public Relations Coup or A Sincere Effort?

The scenes of Iraqi refugees de-planing Prime Minister Maliki's official jet on red carpets and shaking the hands of Iraqi officials would, to the reasonable person, seem nothing short of a public relations coup by the Iraqi government. Since August 11th, the Prime Minister has dispatched an official jet that has repatriated about 1,000 Iraqi refugees from Egypt, a country in which they were undoubtedly unwelcome.


According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the Iraqi government is giving $800 to each family to settle back in Iraq. This economic incentive is compelling considering that many refugees have depleted their savings as they are prohibited from working, receiving social services, and enrolling their children in public schools in Egypt. Contrast this situation with the Displacement and Migration Minister's, Abdel Samad Rahman, characterization of their repatriation as "voluntary."

However, there are signs that the Iraqi government is serious about permanently resettling refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). IRIN, a UN news service, reports that the government is cracking down on squatters who dwell in houses that rightfully belong to IDPs. According to the article, the plan includes giving squatters a one month grace period to vacate and may also include a one time payment to squatters for USD $1,5000. The article also relates that the government plans to pay IDPs willing to return to their rightful property USD $850. Furthermore, each IDP family qualifies for a payment of USD $145 for three months while they are displaced.

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.