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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.
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.
Catch NBC Middle East bureau chief Richard Engel’s report on the plight of Iraqi orphans, airing this evening on NBC Nightly News. He’s blogged the story here and — thanks, Richard — is pointing viewers to the IRC Web site for information on how the IRC is helping Iraqi kids caught in the crossfire and ways they can get involved.
Former Secretary of State and International Rescue Committee Board of Overseers member Colin Powell recently visited the IRC’s resettlement program in Phoenix, AZ. There, Powell met with a small group of refugees resettled to the Phoenix area. Among them were families from Burma, Burundi and Iraq. “I want to personally welcome these families,” Powell told the group. “I know that they will become great Americans.”
Little Iraqi refugee in Damascus, born when her homeland was free from Saddam but far from peaceful. Photo: Anna Husarska/The IRC
Anna Husarska, the IRC’s senior policy adviser, has been visiting Iraqi refugees and telling their stories. In a recent article in Slate, she asks: Why are Iraqi refugees returning home from Syria? She shares these photos, taken in and around Damascus.
While Iraqis who fled the war in their country are waiting in Douma center outside Damascus for the UNHCR to register them as refugees, Iraqi clowns are part of a troupe called – nomen omen “Happy Family” (refugees themselves after two of the group were killed in Baghdad) stage a performance about the need for the children to go to school. UNHCR’s research showed that 76% of Iraqi children are not enrolled in Syrian schools although it is possible and free. Photo: Anna Husarska/The IRC
An Iraqi woman inspects the dolls in a street stall in Sayyida Zaynab, outside Damascus.
Photo: Anna Husarska/The IRC
A notice in an Iraqi barber shop advertises free trips for returnees offered by the Iraqi authorities. The customer being shaved has no intention to return: his name is “Saddam” so he may be right to stay away. The barber and his friend say “perhaps, but not yet.” Photo: Anna Husarska/The IRC
A UNHCR employee registers a family of Iraqi refugees in Douma outside Damascus.
Photo: Anna Husarska/The IRC
A notice in an Iraqi-owned barber shop in Damascus advertises free trips for returnees. The customer being shaved has no intention of returning. The barber and his friend say, “Perhaps, but not yet.” Photo: Anna Husarska
Anna Husarska, IRC senior policy adviser, published an article in Slate last week that examined the return to Iraq of some Iraqi refugees living in Syria. “For many Iraqi refugees, the increased difficulties of remaining in Syria now outweigh the dangers of going back to a marginally safer Iraq,” Husarska wrote.
