By Ahmed Al fatlawi
"It is very difficult to leave your City, which you grown
in , but deadly & harder to leave your homeland, you do not know Where
and when that will be?!!!! "
With the violence in Iraq showing no sign of slowing
down, civilians increasingly suffering. More than two million Iraqis
have fled their homes, and the exodus is accelerating. By November 2006,
an estimated 1.8 million Iraqis had already sought shelter in
neighboring countries, while at least 500,000 more had been displaced
within Iraq since 2003. Middle Eastern countries, Syria and Jordan in
particular, have shown great generosity in welcoming Iraqis in the past
three years, but that welcome is wearing thin. Tensions are rising as
refugees overburden public services. Host countries urgently need
international assistance. In particular, the United Nations and its
refugee agency must dramatically increase resources and operations in
Syria and Jordan.
Generalized Violence Drives up Refugee Numbers
Everybody is a potential target in Iraq. UNCHR met with dozens of Iraqi
families of all faiths and backgrounds who had been targeted for
different reasons: their religion, economic status, ethnicity or
profession. As a result, Iraqis are seeking refuge throughout the Middle
East. Syria and Jordan have absorbed more than 700,000 each and hundreds
of thousands more are in Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait and Iran. More than
40,000 Iraqis are arriving in Syria each month, and numbers are likely
similar for Jordan.
Syrian Response
For the time being, Syria is maintaining its “open door policy” to Iraqi
refugees in the name of pan-Arabism. In addition to the influx of Iraqi
refugees, Syria is the home to 450,000 Palestinians, and has also
provided assistance and temporary shelter to hundreds of thousands of
Lebanese civilians fleeing the bombings during the recent Israel-Lebanon
conflict. Syria’s resources are stretched thin. Before 2005, Iraqis had
access to the same public services as Syrians. In the face of the
growing Iraqi population, Syria started imposing restrictions on Iraqi
refugees; it now charges for healthcare that used to be free. Similarly,
until recently Iraqis were issued six-month visas. Recent policy changes
now limit Iraqis to a three-month visa, and force them to undertake
expensive trips to exit the country and renew their visas.
Lebanese and Jordanian Response
In Lebanon and Jordan, the situation is even more difficult for Iraqis.
Both countries are now showing a diminishing tolerance for Iraqi
presence. In Lebanon, which hosts about 40,000 Iraqis, refugees are
increasingly arrested for illegal presence, imprisoned and forced
to choose between remaining in prison and being deported. While Lebanon
has closed its borders to Iraqis entirely, Jordan continues to let
Iraqis in, albeit selectively. Unlike in Syria, Iraqis have to pay for
all services and live in constant fear of deportation. The Jordanian
government, concerned about the risk of instability, has shut its border
to young men, forcing families to separate. Visas are issued on a
sporadic basis, and while many Iraqis reported receiving a standard
three-month visa, there were growing reports along with many documented
that been allocated by Najaf HRC, that border officials are issuing
transit visas – many as short as two days – to Iraqis. As a result,
Iraqis are quickly falling out of status and are subject to potential
deportation.
International Response
Iraq’s neighbors are overwhelmed by the scope of the crisis. While many
diplomatic missions in both Syria and Jordan are now concerned by the
increasing numbers of Iraqis seeking shelter, they feel that the US,
given its role in Iraq, should lead humanitarian efforts in the
surrounding countries. However, the US has responded minimally to the
refugee flow. With services already stretched thin or denied outright to
Iraqis, host governments need international support to help meet Iraqis’
basic needs. International leadership is needed to develop a coherent
regional burden sharing plan, and international resources must allow
host countries to finance the basic needs of Iraqi refugees on their
territory.
United Nations Response
Lebanon, Syria and Jordan are not signatories to the 1951 Refugee
Convention, and work with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) under Memoranda of Understanding that
bind the agency to resettle every person it declares a refugee. Those
who are not resettled within one year face either prison detention or
deportation to their home country. With few countries willing to
resettle Iraqis – less than 1,500 have been resettled since 2003, and 50
percent of the cases submitted by UNHCR are rejected – UNHCR has been
forced to limit Refugee Status Determination interviews to only the most
vulnerable cases. Ironically, since UNHCR lacks the resources to
register refugees, host countries are able to downplay the extent of the
crisis, routinely noting that UNHCR has only 20,000 registered cases in
Jordan and 39,000 in Syria. UNHCR has created a regime of temporary
protection to provide some status for Iraqi refugees in the Middle East.
Unrecognized by national laws however, this regime, designed to protect
Iraqis from deportation back to Iraq, has little impact in reality,
especially in Lebanon and Jordan.
Lack of resources further keeps UNHCR from being able to monitor
influxes and assist the most vulnerable. With bare-bones teams in
Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, UNHCR cannot register incoming refugees at
border crossings. Studies conducted by the UN and international agencies
in Lebanon and Syria have shown that vulnerable Iraqis in both countries
are in dire need of assistance on several levels. Although there is no
official study for Jordan yet, needs documented by Najaf HRC are
similar. Access to healthcare and education is a major issue, as are
mental health and legal assistance needs. Extremely limited in its
means, UNHCR can only provide the bare minimum for a small minority of
the needy. UNHCR’s budget in Syria this year is just $700,000, less than
one dollar per refugee. UNHCR needs resources to help Iraqi refugees,
and it also needs food, medicine and other help from other UN agencies.
UNHCR is the only UN agency assisting Iraqis in Lebanon and Jordan,
while UNICEF and other agencies voice interest but provide little
support in Syria. Given the growing impact of this crisis, UNHCR, as the
lead agency for refugees, needs the technical support and expertise of
its sister agencies.
Najaf HRC RECOMMENDS:
The international community to acknowledge the scope of
the crisis and provide assistance directly or indirectly to regional
governments to help them absorbing refugees and keep their borders open;
Nations hosting Iraqi refugees recognize their needs, and
work proactively with UNHCR and others to provide necessary services to
Iraqi refugees;
The UN helps creating a regional burden-sharing plan
that includes all countries neighboring Iraq and obtains commitments
from donors to provide resources to these countries;
International donors increase substantially their support
to UNHCR and fully meet their appeal for 2007;
UNHCR and national governments devise alternatives to the
temporary protection regime;
Host countries work with the UN to increase the capacity
of national health, education, and housing systems to provide adequate
services for Iraqi refugees, including plans for international support
for these services;
Other UN agencies participate in relief efforts for
Iraqis. The UN countries teams needs to make humanitarian response for
Iraqis, the priority in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
It is worth mentioning is that the Iraqi government alone
can not reduce the consequences of the Iraqi refugees without the help
of international community , therefore Najaf HRC recommends to intensify
international assistance through a joint program between international
organizations and the government of Iraq and the Governments of the
States that have received anew Iraqi refugees
*Refugee : This term varies greatly in
meaning , depending on whether it is used in the context of general
public international law {PIL} or in the context of international
humanitarian law {HIL} .
In public international law it has on
various occasions been precisely defined : it applies to any person who
has fled the country of his nationality to avoid persecution or the
threat of persecution { see UN 1951 Art 1 & the Convention of the
Organization of African Unity {OAU 1969} & certain resolutions of UN
General Assembly subsequently extended refugee status to all persons
fleeing their country because of an armed conflict or internal
disturbances .
Persons fulfilling the conditions set out
in international legal instrument acquire refugee statues and certain
rights and obligations.
International humanitarian law, however ,
does not certain any definition of "refugee" .in that law a refugee is
above all a civilian person and the decisive factor is that he or she is
not protected by a government unlike PIL , IHL gives the term " refugee
" a wide interpretation and includes in it displaced persons who have
fled their homes because of armed conflicts internal disturbances but
remain within the borders of their own country .
International humanitarian law contains
a number of rules directly or indirectly intended for refugee { GC IV
Arts 3, 15,25,26,44,70; UN 1951 Art .1;H1957; UN 1969 ; H1973; PI Arts
73, 74 85;P II Art. 4; OAU 1969 Art .1}.
Ahmed Alfatlawi
Co- director Najaf HRC
Assistant professor in International humanitarian law
Kufa University , College of Law
www.najafhrc.org
deputy@najafhrc.org
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/disa/29/4;jsessionid=eZNXPpIRpZm9yV_hP