Iraqi Refugees: Two Years After Samarra

At 6:56 am local time, two years ago today, the golden dome of the Al Askari Mosque in Samarra was destroyed. In the days that followed, hundreds of people were killed in retaliatory violence and political leaders held emergency meetings to help contain the crisis. The American ambassador in Iraq at the time, Zalmay Khalilzad, said “everything that needs to be done must be done to avoid a civil war.” In the weeks and months that followed, millions of people were forced from their homes, victims of the sectarian violence that was now ravaging the country in full force. At one point, 60,000 Iraqis were crossing into Syria each month. Today, the UN reports that there are over 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring host countries and over 2 million Iraqis displaced within Iraq.

In the aftermath of the Samarra bombing, millions of people fled their homes because they feared for their lives and the lives of their families. In August 2006, Ali was kidnapped and detained near Fallujah by a militant group because he was a Shi’ite. After two months in captivity, the Iraqi National Guard raided the compound and freed Ali to return to his family. But his story is only one of many.

Today, as Refugees International has regularly documented, these people have either found shelter elsewhere in Iraq or in one of its neighboring countries, but they face enormous challenges in finding housing, obtaining food, accessing health care or sending their children to school. Some are returning home, not because they feel that it is now safer in Iraq, but simply because they can no longer afford to live in cities like Damascus and Amman where the cost of living is skyrocketing.

The situation for these refugees and the countries who host them is far from easy. Jordan estimates that the cost of sheltering between 500,000 and 750,000 Iraqi refugees for the past three years is more than $2 billion. Most of the refugees live in urban environments, using the social services that are either free or heavily subsidized by host governments. Ron Redmond from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) recently lamented that, “the Syrian and Jordanian] governments are really struggling to cope with the huge number of people in these cities.” The U.S. recently gave about $125 million to help support relief efforts by UNHCR, but an ongoing commitment is necessary. And the US must work with the Government of Iraq to increase its capacity to respond to the needs of its people.

Although the crisis is far from over, there are signs of progress. Last week, (UNHCR announced the appointment of a representative in Baghdad who would help prepare for the return of refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, recently told Reuters that, "We want to support the Iraqi government to find solutions to these problems to allow for their return… when security allows… to be successful and sustainable." Let’s hope the international community agrees.