Issues
The war in Iraq : a sad anniversary for the refugees
For the second time since 1948, the Middle-East is confronted with a humanitarian catastrophe with consequences for the whole region and beyond. It is the tragedy of Iraqi refugees.
Four years after a war was started, supposedly to lead to freedom and democracy in Iraq, the result is more than disappointing. Civil war is settling in durably, and blind violence has become the norm for a population without a future. In March of this year, we should have celebrated the fourth birthday of the first pluralist democracy in the Arab-Muslim world. Instead we are mourning Saddam’s Irak – yes, Saddam, the bloodthirsty dictator – because his country at least was secular and lived in peace. Today, the international community is at Iraq’s bedside, begging the states of the “axis of evil” to stop their trouble-making there, and calling for help to alleviate the pain of a people who has suffered from its previous masters and who is now a victim of the new ones.
The headlines now expose a new problem. The Iraqi population is fleeing massively, and even inside the country, some people are forcibly moved. Hundreds of thousands of people are helpless (helpless or without help or homeless). The UNHCR gives alarming numbers: almost 1.8 million Iraqi have been moved within their country. This number could rise to 2.7 million before the end of 2007. But other Iraqis flee farther, and between 40,000 and 50,000 Iraqi leave their homeland each month. One million of them now live in Syria, 700,000 in Jordan, several tens of thousands in Egypt, between 80,000 and 130,000 in the Lebanon, and 40,000 in Iran and Turkey.
In their land of exile, exiles live in precarious conditions. Women and children are hastily put up in public buildings and schools, often in makeshift shelters or insalubrious houses. Despite their good will, countries taking in refugees also have to face strong socio-economic pressures such as housing crises, an overload of their infrastructures, of their schooling and health systems. Some fear that the exiles might have repercussions on safety, and thus dread uprisings in the local population. As a matter of fact, Arab states refuse to grant the status of refugee to the Iraqis. Such a status would give them more rights, protection and help. Instead, the Iraqis are often treated like illegal immigrants or transitioning visitors. In Jordan, Iraqi children are not granted access to public schools and are not entitled to enrol in private schools because they do not have a residence permit. Only if he/she possesses 100,000 dollars in a Jordanian bank will an Iraqi have any hope of getting a visa that will allow him into the country. The selection happens at the border. As of 20 January, Syria had started giving Iraqis three month renewable residence authorisations, but it has now brought the authorisations down to two weeks, and they are only renewable once. When the fortnight is over, the person has to return to Iraq for a minimum period of one month before he/she can return to Syria. This is still the case now in spite of the injunctions of the head of the UNHCR, António Guterres. He asked for Iraqis not to be forcibly sent back to their country. Rightly, the HCR states that a humanitarian disaster is taking place in Iraq. Unfortunately, the UN agency is not more inventive than the states concerned. No strategy of consensus has yet been developed to face the inflow of refugees and to organise their stay in the hosting lands.
There is one priority: declaring Iraq a disaster zone. Neighbouring countries need to acknowledge the presence on their land of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Iraqis who need effective protection and assistance. Recognition of this state of affairs means creating conditions that will allow help to get to the refugees, to the people who were moved inside Iraq as well as to those in transit zones and at border crossings. With this in mind, the HCR launched an international call in January to gather 60 million dollars to finance programs – scheduled for 2007 – in favour of Iraqis moved within their country, of non-Iraqi refugees in Iraq, and of Iraqis and strangers who have fled Iraq. The call from the HCR also underlines the need of more international assistance to ensure that neighbouring countries keep their borders open for people fleeing Iraq and needing a shelter. However, the amount of money is insignificant. It is an unprecedented situation that requires long term actions, not just case by case operations, but a global and concerted approach. The fate of the refugees will not improve simply by making media interventions if the situation is not truly taken care of.
It is a moment of truth for the UN. Its reputation has been tarnished by an unfair embargo and the scandal linked to the “oil for food” program which enriched Saddam’s clan and some unscrupulous state officials. Today, we expect the UN to create a program for Iraqi civilians, an “oil for refugee protection” program. Let us not forget that two thirds of the “oil for food” program launched by the Security Council on 14 April 1995 went to humanitarian action, 30% to the Compensation Commission in Geneva, 2.2% to UN expenses for the programme management, and 0.8% to the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission. One barrel of oil costs 66 dollars; just 1% of the sales of Iraqi oil would produce between 30 and 40 million dollars per annum.
Another idea would be to set up an agency similar to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The UNRWA was created by the UN after the 1948-1949 first Israel-Arab war to help Palestinian refugees in the Gaza strip, in the West Bank, in Jordan, in the Lebanon, and in Syria. Such an agency could respond to the basic needs of Iraqi refugees as regards health, education, help and social services. Its personnel could be Iraqi in majority, considering how highly qualified the Iraqi middle class is. The employees would indeed be refugees, but first and foremost teachers, doctors and social workers.
The American Administration spends around two billion dollars a week to finance the war in Iraq and at the same time, it creates new refugees. The United State should feel morally and politically obliged to accept its responsibilities and take on part of the cost of this human disaster. Syria and Iran, formerly “rogue states” that were in George Bush’s sights after Iraq, now have a power status that needs to be reckoned with in the Iraqi crisis. Iraqi refugees, on the other hand, still have no status.
Hasni Abidi, Director of CERMAM
In collaboration with Ahmed Al-Shikaki, Iraqi political scientist
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- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/dossier/the_war_in_iraq_a_sad_annivers/
- Publié le 14 May 2007