News: UNHCR cites conflicting reports on Iraqi return figures

A UNHCR press release issued on Friday, December 7 explores some of the difficulties that agencies such as UNHCR face when reporting on refugee figures, and returns in particular - difficulties that can lead to the sometimes conflicting reports that get issued.

Part of the problem, according to the press release, is that not everyone being counted is a refugee:

[The number of returning refugees reported] includes all categories of Iraqis, including bus and taxi drivers, and not just refugees who returned for good. UNHCR does not have a 24-hour presence at the border and relies on various sources to estimate numbers.

Adding to the difficulty in understanding the current state of the refugee crisis are the many and varied reasons for which people return to Iraq. According to UNHCR spokesman William Spindler:

"UNHCR staff have spoken to a wide range of refugees before they left Syria, and some said they were returning because they believed that security had improved, while others said they had run out of resources and feared the winter period when the cost of living jumps. Others are leaving because they have outstayed their visas,"...

Some also wanted to arrive before the end of the year to enable their children to enrol in school, the spokesperson said, while adding that there was "a real concern among the returnees about longer-term security with many saying they are only returning to areas where they feel secure because of the local security arrangements in place."

The rest of the press release discusses other issues faced by refugees in Syria and Lebanon, many of which have been discussed previously on this blog, but it is well worth reading.

News: Iraq Says It Can't Handle Refugee Influx

While newspapers and magazines have been reporting encouraging stories about Iraqis being able to return home as a result of reduced violence, and the Iraqi Red Crescent reporting that 25,000 refugees have returned since September 15, the Associated Press is reporting that the Iraqi government has admitted that it is unprepared for a large influx of returning refugees, and that the US military fears that returning refugees could spark renewed sectarian violence.

The return of refugees is a politically charged issue in this country, where the embattled government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is eager to point to recent military gains against al-Qaida in Iraq and other militants as evidence that Iraq is now a relatively safe place.

But the U.S. military has warned that a massive return of refugees could rekindle sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites and that some returnees have found their Baghdad homes occupied by members of the other Muslim sect.

"In reality, the ministry cannot absorb a return on that (large) scale," Iraqi Migration Minister Abdul-Samad Rahman told a news conference. "If the influx is huge, then neither the ministry nor the entire government can handle it."

While the Iraqi government works to establish an effective method of resettlement for returning refugees, UNHCR has announced that it will provide over $11 million in aid for returning families

Announcing the $11.4 million relief package, Staffan De Mistura, the U.N. chief in Iraq, said the money would be spent on 5,000 vulnerable families, or about 30,000 people, returning to Iraq in response to declining violence.

The veteran Swedish diplomat said the program would include food baskets and other emergency kits. The money, he said, came from UNHCR and would supplement ongoing Iraqi government aid.

"It is not a massive return and the UNHCR is not encouraging a massive return due to the fragility of the (security) situation," De Mistura said. "At the same time, a flow is taking place and we need to show together that there is a proper response," he said.

Read the full story from the AP here.

News: US Falls Short of Refugees Goal

Officials from the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security have been saying that 12,000 Iraqi refugees are expected to be admitted into the US over the next fiscal year (October 2007 - October 2008) - at least 1,000 per month. State Department statistics for October show that the US is starting well off that pace, having admitted only 450. While disappointing, that number is actually a large improvement over the last fiscal year, when a total of only 1,608 were admitted.

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: 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.

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.