President’s Corner: Iraqi Refugees Represent a “Humanitarian Catastrophe.”
Monday, February 12, 2007
I just returned from Cairo, where there is increasing concern about the growing number of Iraqi refugees. According to the Egyptian press there are as many as 150,000 Iraqi refugees in Cairo, double the number just five months ago. The growing population of Iraqis in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East highlights the need for the U.S. to begin working to craft regional solutions to the problems it has created in Iraq.
Last week the vice president of Syria said: “The invasion of Iraq has led to an outpouring of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria and neighboring countries,” adding that the influx has “imposed heavy economic, social and security burdens.” He called the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe” created by the U.S. Syria has been gradually tightening restrictions on Iraqi refugees, making it more difficult for them to stay in the country.
Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, visited Syria and Jordan last week. Together these two countries host most of the estimated two million refugees from Iraq. In an effort to escape sectarian violence, Iraqis are leaving their country at the rate of 100,000 a month, making Iraqis the world’s fastest growing refugee population today.
Guterres praised Syria and Jordan for absorbing as many as 1.5 million Iraqis. “The pressure over society, over resources and infrastructure, over social systems and education, is enormous,” the High Commissioner said. “The sacrifices made by these countries are remarkable and the international community needs to assume full responsibility for supporting them.”
Egypt, which places a heavy premium on security, worries that instability will come with the refugees. As the fighting between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims worsens in Iraq, Egyptians fear that refugees will bring sectarian violence to Egypt, a predominantly Sunni country. So far this hasn’t happened; Iraqi refugees want to leave violence behind, not bring it with them. However, late last year Iraqis protested against Egyptian restrictions on them, including rules designed to keep Iraqi children out of school.
Throughout the Middle East people wonder why the U.S. isn’t doing more to ease the growing burdens of the rising refugee population. The Bush administration, of course, is trying--so far without success--to end the violence in Iraq. But it has done little more than fret about the growing refugee crisis so far.
At a time when the U.S. is spending $8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, it hasn’t been able to come up with money to help UNHCR expand its operations for displaced Iraqis. The UN refugee agency is seeking $60 million for displaced Iraqis this year. It needs the money as soon as possible to ramp up its operations. The U.S. reliably provides 25% of UNHCR’s budget, but domestic budget wrangling have prevented Washington from making its contribution for Iraqi refugees yet.
Aside from supporting the UNHCR, the U.S. needs to consider bilateral aid to countries hosting large numbers of Iraqis. Last week the U.S. announced that it was authorizing its ambassador to Syria to begin discussing the refugee issue with the government in Damascus. Both Syria and Jordan need help in bearing the burden of Iraqi refugees.
Finally, the U.S. needs to move aggressively to help protect the most vulnerable refugees, particularly those Iraqis whose lives are in danger because they have supported the U.S. Translators and others who have worked with U.S. forces are seen as collaborators and unable to remain in Iraq, yet Washington has no comprehensive program for protecting Iraqis who have put their lives in danger to support the U.S.
Right now the State Department has plans to resettle up to 7,000 Iraqis in the U.S. this year. This would be a huge increase over the 202 officially resettled last year, but it may not be enough, given the surging number of people leaving Iraq. Sen. Edward Kennedy and others are urging the administration to address the Iraqi refugee problem more effectively.
The U.S. may not know how to stop the violence in Iraq, but it does know how to protect refugees. We have to start now.
Last week the vice president of Syria said: “The invasion of Iraq has led to an outpouring of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria and neighboring countries,” adding that the influx has “imposed heavy economic, social and security burdens.” He called the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe” created by the U.S. Syria has been gradually tightening restrictions on Iraqi refugees, making it more difficult for them to stay in the country.
Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, visited Syria and Jordan last week. Together these two countries host most of the estimated two million refugees from Iraq. In an effort to escape sectarian violence, Iraqis are leaving their country at the rate of 100,000 a month, making Iraqis the world’s fastest growing refugee population today.
Guterres praised Syria and Jordan for absorbing as many as 1.5 million Iraqis. “The pressure over society, over resources and infrastructure, over social systems and education, is enormous,” the High Commissioner said. “The sacrifices made by these countries are remarkable and the international community needs to assume full responsibility for supporting them.”
Egypt, which places a heavy premium on security, worries that instability will come with the refugees. As the fighting between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims worsens in Iraq, Egyptians fear that refugees will bring sectarian violence to Egypt, a predominantly Sunni country. So far this hasn’t happened; Iraqi refugees want to leave violence behind, not bring it with them. However, late last year Iraqis protested against Egyptian restrictions on them, including rules designed to keep Iraqi children out of school.
Throughout the Middle East people wonder why the U.S. isn’t doing more to ease the growing burdens of the rising refugee population. The Bush administration, of course, is trying--so far without success--to end the violence in Iraq. But it has done little more than fret about the growing refugee crisis so far.
At a time when the U.S. is spending $8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, it hasn’t been able to come up with money to help UNHCR expand its operations for displaced Iraqis. The UN refugee agency is seeking $60 million for displaced Iraqis this year. It needs the money as soon as possible to ramp up its operations. The U.S. reliably provides 25% of UNHCR’s budget, but domestic budget wrangling have prevented Washington from making its contribution for Iraqi refugees yet.
Aside from supporting the UNHCR, the U.S. needs to consider bilateral aid to countries hosting large numbers of Iraqis. Last week the U.S. announced that it was authorizing its ambassador to Syria to begin discussing the refugee issue with the government in Damascus. Both Syria and Jordan need help in bearing the burden of Iraqi refugees.
Finally, the U.S. needs to move aggressively to help protect the most vulnerable refugees, particularly those Iraqis whose lives are in danger because they have supported the U.S. Translators and others who have worked with U.S. forces are seen as collaborators and unable to remain in Iraq, yet Washington has no comprehensive program for protecting Iraqis who have put their lives in danger to support the U.S.
Right now the State Department has plans to resettle up to 7,000 Iraqis in the U.S. this year. This would be a huge increase over the 202 officially resettled last year, but it may not be enough, given the surging number of people leaving Iraq. Sen. Edward Kennedy and others are urging the administration to address the Iraqi refugee problem more effectively.
The U.S. may not know how to stop the violence in Iraq, but it does know how to protect refugees. We have to start now.
Labels: Iraqi Refugees
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