Iraqi Refugees: Perspectives from Afar

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives’ subcommittee on the Middle East held a hearing to discuss the shortcomings of the US response to the Iraqi displacement crisis. In front of his fellow congress members, Congressman Rohrabacher from California expressed doubts as to whether the US should even try to meet Iraqi refugees’ needs. According to the congressman, the security situation has improved in Iraq, to the point that people should now be encouraged to return. The only assistance the Congressman believes the US should provide to the millions of refugees in countries like Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, is transportation back to Iraq. He also felt that more humanitarian assistance would create dependency and that the idea of paying rent generally deterred refugees from leaving camps and returning home.

There are two problems with the Congressman’s statement. First, I have visited many refugee camps in many countries, and have never found one I would like to live in, albeit rent free. My experience has been that people in these camps would generally do anything to go home or to rebuild their lives elsewhere so they can find work, provide for their families and send their children to school.

Second, the vast majority of displaced Iraqis don’t even live in camps. Inside Iraq, millions have fled for different neighborhoods or cities, where they rent apartments or stay with relatives. Millions more are refugees in Damascus, Amman, Beirut or Cairo where they have joined the ranks of the urban poor. Unable to afford decent accommodation, most now live in squalid conditions, and all wonder how long their resources will last before they are forced to return to a violent, war-torn country where even the most basic of services - electricity, clean water, healthcare - are no longer available.

After Congressman Rohrabacher concluded his statement, I started thinking about Noor, a young Shi’a hairdresser, who fled Baghdad for Syria after being threatened by islamist militias. Noor’s story broke my heart. The salon where Noor worked began to receive threats in 2003 because they were cutting women’s hair in a public place. Shortly thereafter, the salon was attacked, and Noor quit her job out of fear for her safety. She moved to another apartment, but that building was threatened because militias felt women shouldn’t live alone. She fled to Damascus soon after.

Noor had lost her parents years ago, and was now all alone in Syria. Too proud to ask for help, she didn’t even know she could get any when I met her last year, and was barely surviving in her tiny Damascus apartment. Her dignity and her kindness touched me profoundly. When I left her that day, the only thing she asked me for was to remember her, and her story.

The Congressman is also wrong that it is now safe enough for Noor and millions like her to return home. The future of Iraq is uncertain at best. A study released Tuesday showed that the US military tallied 60 attacks per day in Iraq in January alone. And violence seems to be on the rise – on the same day this report was released, deadly bombings and other attacks took place in about eight cities. People should not be forced back to Iraq under these conditions. But they should be provided the means to survive until they can return home.

Noor might be able to return to Baghdad one day. But until she does, the last thing she needs is for policy-makers sitting in their Washington office to question her reasons for staying away from the only home she ever had.

--Kristele Younes