Category: Iraqi refugees

Angelina Jolie visits internally-displaced refugees in Iraq

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Angeline Jolie is in the refugee news again. We’ve posted on her trips to visit refugees before; see here for a list. She is a UN Goodwill Ambassador, whatever that is, and I’ve remarked before on how sensible she is. At a time when seemingly everyone involved with Iraqi refugees, including the UN, was saying that the solution to the problem was resettling them in the west — especially in the U.S. — she pointed out the obvious: that they needed to be taken care of where they were and returned to Iraq when it was possible.

We see how right she was in the continuous reports of the troubles Iraqi refugees are facing in this country. Ann has kept on top of this; see our Iraqi refugees category for details. Since Iraq has become pacified, there is more emphasis on resettling the refugees back in Iraq.

Jolie visited some internally-displaced (IDP) refugee families in Baghdad under the auspices of the UN, the San Francisco Chronicle and many other news sources report. That’s a category we don’t hear much about, since American refugee agencies don’t get involved in Iraq’s internal affairs. The Chronicle says:

Jolie observed some changes in conditions since her last visit, but admitted a lot still needed to be done before the refugees could return to normality.

She noted, “There are some changes. There are returns of displaced people, not a big number, but there is progress. This is a moment where things seem to be improving on the ground, but Iraqis need a lot of support and help to rebuild their lives.”

Jolie has vowed to return to do all she can to help refugees rebuild their lives, telling the families, “I want to come back and find you in a better place and in a different situation. We hope that UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and the government will support you in getting a piece of land. You need help not because you are poor, but because you are the future of Iraq.”

As far as the overall picture of internally-displaced persons in Iraq goes, Reuters reports:

An estimated 1.6 million Iraqis remain uprooted within the country, while another 300,000 have returned to their homes amid a general improvement in security in the past year, UNHCR said. Syria and Jordan say that they have registered some 2 million Iraqis who have fled their country, but UNHCR says these are not all refugees or necessarily residing in those countries.

Refugees International utters the “C” word regarding Iraq

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is “C” as in Christian Iraqi refugees.   I’ve been critical for some time of Refugees International’s near silence on persecuted Iraqi Christians while vociferously arguing for Iraqi Palestinians and other supposedly persecuted Muslims to get into the US. Incidentally who is persecuting Muslims besides other Muslims and why is everyone so chicken to mention that fact?

So, I was happy to see this blog posting by Jake Kurtzer, a lobbyist for RI, speaking up for Christians for once even if he never mentions why the Christians, who have lived in Iraq for centuries, are persecuted.

While America’s attention has shifted to the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, recent news reports about the targeting of Christian Iraqis have turned a few eyes back towards the violence within Iraq. The targeting of Iraqi Christians portends a return to the attacks on minorities and ethnic strife that led to the massive displacement of civilians from Iraq.

He places resettlement as third in his list of three suggested action items for the Obama Administration.   Keep in mind it was only last November that RI was calling on Obama to resettle 105,500 Iraqis to the US this year!   I guess it’s dawned on them that hauling all these Iraqis here who then can’t find work and run to the newspapers to complain isn’t doing the refugee industry much good.

President Obama can convey this message by urging Al-Maliki to take a few basic steps. First and foremost, the Iraqi government must continue to improve its own response to the displacement crisis. Reports that the Iraqi government plans to close the IDP file at the end of this year indicate a desire on their part to gloss over this humanitarian emergency. This is unacceptable. The Iraqi government, with U.S. support, must continue to improve its legal framework for supporting returnees and must ensure that all returns are voluntary, and conducted with dignity to areas that are safe and suitable for return.

In urging Al-Maliki to take these steps, President Obama should reiterate America’s commitment to meeting the basic needs of Iraq’s displaced, through financial support for humanitarian agencies and through diplomatic engagement with host countries. The announcement of a potential return of an Ambassador to Syria is a welcome and overdue step that RI has been calling for since 2007. This will ensure that the U.S. can engage with the Syrian government on issues relating to the basic needs of Iraqi refugees. Finally, the President can continue to affirm the U.S.’s commitment to resettle those most vulnerable Iraqi’s who will never be able to return home.

So, when Obama pulls our troops out, and if a sectarian blood bath ensues, will it be Obama’s blood bath?

Volunteer charges that Utah resettlement agencies are not doing their job

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we go again, another article about Iraqis on the verge of being evicted (supposedly) from their apartments in Utah because they can’t find work and their government support is running out.   But, if I’m reading this correctly a volunteer is suggesting more could be done and the resettlement agencies there are not doing it.  Granted this section of the story is not clearly written, but because we have heard this before elsewhere, I assume Denise Devynck is saying what I think she is saying.

Some Iraqi refugees have already left the state because they couldn’t support their families. Case workers are dealing with more refugees from more countries than ever before, and there is less money to help.

“That I was able to find 10 jobs in four days, I do not understand how the system is failing these people,” said Denise Devynck.  [Devynck is saying, I think, that she found 10 potential jobs for refugees in a brief period of time.]

She got involved with Iraqi refugees a month ago and can’t hide her frustration. There is a resistance to moving refugees out of the Salt Lake Valley, away from support services and people from their home country.  [Who is resisting?]

Devynck believes finding host families and jobs in any setting should be a higher priority.  [Again, this isn’t clear but it appears she is saying that finding sponsors to help and jobs isn’t high on the resettlement agencies priority lists.]

“The job specialists at these agencies have not sent them on interviews to get jobs,” she said. “So all this time the money’s running out, these guys [Iraqis?] are volunteering, they’re not getting jobs.”

I get the feeling that the reporter couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing—that someone was criticizing a saintly resettlement agency—but felt he couldn’t completely ignore this woman’s complaint either, so it’s written in such a way that one is forced to read between the lines.

I’m going to sound cynical (as usual!), but what if the news of suffering Iraqi refugees could cause more funding to flow from the federal government to the federal refugee resettlement contractors (Top Ten are here*), would they, the contractors, take advantage of the situation and drum up these sob stories?   Is that what the IRC’s crisis report was meant to do?

* A point of information to new readers, your local resettlement agency is a subcontractor to one of the top ten.  Those ten big contractors have a monopoly on the program and get all the federal contracts to resettle refugees and then dole out the taxpayer funds to several hundred ‘affiliates.’    Besides the money that they get directly from the US State Department for initial resettlement, they receive millions of dollars of grant money from the Dept. of Health and Human Services (Office of Refugee Resettlement).

This is our 400th post on Iraqi refugees!

International Organization for Migration receives $10 million from US State Department to help Iraqis return home

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just now someone sent me a press release dated today from the IOM (sorry I can’t find the link for it) but it begins:

IRAQ – US$ 10 Million to Help Returning Families Reintegrate – IOM has received US$10 million from the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) to meet the most urgent needs of Iraqi returnees.

Working a with the Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) and host communities, IOM is assisting returnees and local residents without jobs or underemployed by providing information and counseling; grants for the purchase of tools, equipment or base materials; and vocational and/or business training, to create or expand small businesses or to find employment.

[…..]

IOM monitors have identified some 52,000 post-2006 returnee families in approximately 800 locations; with the majority returning to Baghdad, and significant groups to Diyala and Anbar.

Seventy-one per cent of returnees interviewed by IOM said they had decided to return to their places of origin because of improved security or a combination of improved security and difficult conditions in the place of displacement.

Sounds like it could save the US taxpayers more money and be less of a headache then hauling tens of thousands of Iraqis to the US only to have them complain about no jobs and poor living conditions.

For information on IOM in Iraq go here.

The WSJ adds more information to Iraqi Palestinian resettlement plans

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The Wall Street Journal today has followed up on the story first reported by the Christian Science Monitor, here, last week about the US resettlement plans for approximately 1350 Iraqi Palestinians.  We first got a hint of this plan here.

A few pieces of clarification that have added to the previous CSM story follow. 

 The WSJ confirms the resettlement is controversial.

The U.S. agreed to resettle 1,350 Palestinians displaced by fighting in Iraq, marking the largest resettlement ever of Palestinian refugees in the nation. 

The decision appears to signal a shift in Washington’s previous position against resettling Palestinians out of concern about the potential impact on U.S. relations with Israel and the Arab world. The resettlement, which is slated to begin this fall, is likely to illicit strong reactions from people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Here is a section I found troubling.  The reporter, Miriam Jordan, says that Arab countries see this initiative (resettling this group of Palestinians) as a sign of new openness toward the Muslim world in the wake of Obama’s Cairo speech, but she quotes no one actually saying that.   In fact, we know that at least one spokesman for the so-called Muslim world, the American Al-Shabaab, is saying that they (Muslims) will not be suckered by Obama’s charismatic words, here.

Many Arab countries interpreted President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo last month as an attempt to put U.S. relations with Islamic nations on a new course and dissipate the strain that characterized ties during the Bush administration. They see the offer of accepting Palestinian refugees as an early sign of a new openness.  [who is “they?”]

The following information confirms what I believe may well be the case, that Arab countries are not happy with this turn of events.  As we have reported many times at RRW, the refugees are needed to keep the sword over Israel’s head, the more poor and angry Palestinians in the world the better.

However, Mr. Asali [American Task Force on Palestine] cautioned that it is bound to irk Palestinian and Arab leaders who interpret U.S. willingness to resettle Palestinians — which comes with full rights such as citizenship down the road — as “a conspiracy to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue.” With the exception of Jordan, no country in the Middle East has granted citizenship to Palestinian refugees. Many Arab countries believe that fully integrating large numbers of Palestinian refugees would undercut their demand for an independent state.

One American Jewish organization doesn’t like this plan either, but for completely differant reasons.

At least one pro-Israel group in the U.S. deems it a mistake to absorb the Palestinian Iraqis, who were welcomed by Saddam Hussein and regarded as loyal supporters of his regime. “We don’t think that Washington should be bringing in a group of people who we know were publicly and consistently hostile to the United States and its closest ally, Israel,” said Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America.

The WSJ article then gives us more background then we ever knew previously about how these Palestinians came to be in Iraq and why they were so hated.  And, once again confirms my contention that Muslim charity toward fellow Muslims is a myth.  These Iraqi Palestinians knew it was a myth too, here.

Palestinians moved to Iraq after Arab-Israeli conflicts in 1948 and 1967, and following the Gulf War in 1991. The community grew to nearly 35,000. “Saddam Hussein made a point of using Palestinian refugees to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause,” said Bill Frelick, refugee-policy director at Human Rights Watch in Washington.

The preferential treatment bred resentment among many Iraqis. After Baghdad fell to U.S.-led forces in 2003, Palestinians became a target for harassment and violence, including bombings and murder. A particular point of contention had been the government’s provision of subsidized housing for Palestinians, often at the expense of mostly Shiite landlords who received little rent from the government in return.

After Mr. Hussein was deposed, many landlords evicted their Palestinian tenants, who are mainly Sunni Muslims. Driven out of Baghdad and other cities, the Palestinians tried to flee to neighboring Syria and Jordan, which already host hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. When those countries blocked their entry, the displaced Palestinians sought refuge in camps that lack basic infrastructure and jeopardize their health and safety, said Mr. Frelick.

Read the whole article at the WSJ, and for more background use our search function for “Iraqi Palestinians.”  We have written a whole slew of posts on the subject.

And, by the way, these Palestinians will come to the US as Iraqis, in the Iraqi refugee category.