IRC in NY Times: “The U.S. must lead and it is failing”
Posted by The IRC on April 23rd, 2008
 Photo: Melissa Winkler/The IRC |
| In an opinion piece in yesterday’s New York Times, the International Rescue Committee says Iraqi refugees are living in deplorable and declining conditions in Syria and Jordan.
“They are clustered not in camps but in overcrowded urban neighborhoods, crammed into dark, squalid apartments,” say the four co-authors, all of whom took part in a recent IRC delegation to the Middle East. “Many have been traumatized by extreme violence. Their savings are dwindling; many cannot afford to pay for rent, heat and food; few have proper medical care.”"There is no denying that the United States has a special responsibility to help,” the co-authors say. “The sectarian violence these Iraqi refugees fled is a byproduct of the invasion and its chaotic aftermath.” The op-ed outlines critical steps the United States and the international community should take to address the humanitarian emergency. Please read this urgent call for action in the New York Times and send it to family and friends. ALSO IN THE NEWS A cover article in yesterday’s USA Today spotlights the small number of Iraqi refugees being granted refuge in the United States. The story is set in Boise, Idaho, one of nearly 20 U.S. locations where the IRC is helping newly arrived Iraqi refugees: HOW TO HELP Millions of Iraqis have had to flee horrific violence. You can speak out for the innocent bystanders of the Iraq conflict. Please add your name to our pledge to aid desperate and uprooted Iraqis and spread the word about their plight. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of vulnerable Iraqi families. |
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May 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thank you so much for your work.
I can’t comprehend how cruel and shortsighted we as a “civilization” have become destroying the very peopled root of our “own” . If we speed up the situation for Iraqi’s as with a fast motion camera over the next few years it equals genocide - depleted uranium warheads being used on civilian populations, I hear, just for starters. And the Christians who have the longest history of pacifism, with no militias to guard them are the most persecuted per head of population because increasingly they are seen as collaborators with the occupiers in their own country AND in Jordan and Syria which already have stark population/economic problems and MILLIONS of Iraqui’s they can’t support. This makes the non-Christians even more resentful of ALL Christians which threatens the social/economic peace of these countries. As the destruction of Christian Churches etc where our troops have stayed and the killing of Christian clergy is being regularised and Christian homes are now considered “halal” by Moslim cleric extremists there are no homes or neighbourhoods for the Christian Iraqi’s to return to and still they are not regarded by the UNHCR as refugees.