Iraqi Refugees

In the last 3 weeks, I have had the opportunity to gain a lot of input into the plight of Iraqi refugees. Beginning with the Launching Event for the US Catholic Coalition for the Protection of Displaced Iraqis, to the all-day Villanova-sponsored Ryan Forum on The Iraqi Refugee Crisis, to the EPIC-sponsored Iraq Action Days that included a day of input and 2 days of advocacy, I feel rather immersed in the stories and political challenges of this horrible reality. Allow me to digest a bit...

Some common points of observation came up over these days of speakers, presentations, graphs, and talking points:

• Iraqi refugees are not as visible because they're settling into urban centers. This means prices are being driven up in Amman (now the most expensive city to live in, even more than Dubai) related to housing and food, and it means it's more difficult to find refugees (than if they were in tent cities) who are working hard to blend in (so as not to get deported back to violence).
• Rent must be paid, but income is scarce because refugees aren't allowed to work. Men are the most targeted for deportation, so they are staying home and women and children are working more to earn what little they can. This subverts the traditional family model and there are reports of higher domestic violence in refugees, with probable links to the stress and destabilization of life as these families knew it.
• There have been several waves of refugees and Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Many initially came from economic stability - middle to upper class - and then the educated professionals, academics, & others left because of the rising kidnapping industry that targeted people with resources and influence. This has drained much of the human capital that will be crucial in re-building and restoring Iraq for a future without the US. (CRS rep called this the "flight of moderation")
• Hosting nations in the region are hesitant to grant refugee status to Iraqis because of the 60-year presence of Palestinian refugees. No one wants to think about this problem remaining that protracted.
• Jordan & Syria's ambassadors to the US shared their challenges and obstacles to providing adequately for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have fled to their cities. The strain is evident on their already-struggling economies; hospitality is wearing thin; international support has been woefully low.
• The US could, in fact, accept more refugees into the country, if there was a political will to do so. Examples were cited of the 100,000+ refugees from SE Asia in the 1970s (within a 7-month period!), or the tens of thousands resettled from ex-communist states during the Cold War. What's the hold up now?
• The State Dept. enjoys deferring responsibility, citing the limitations as Congress' budget problems, staffing problems, access problems (to Syria), his problems, her problems, etc.
• We sink billions of dollars every month, why can't we divert/re-budget some of the funds into building the capacity of humanitarian aid? If we don't invest in things like diplomacy or development, how can we expect the capacity to grow? Right now, the military is doing defense work and humanitarian work. Jim & I lobbied with a military couple who were saying, no, military is not trained for humanitarian work - that money should be going to build capacity of NGOs, USAID, UNHCR, etc.
• Let's stop expecting Iraq's crippled government to step up when we ourselves aren't prioritizing true security-building ventures. If a gov't as "highly functioning" as our own fell shamefully short of providing for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, how much more difficult can we imagine the Iraqi's splintered broken system to respond to the millions of displaced citizens within and without its borders?

I'll stop. It's obvious more could be said and done. The Emergency Supplemental (that golden ticket that keeps funding the Iraq beast) is up this week, apparently. We'll see if our advocacy made any waves.