on August 31, President Barack Obama failed to take the opportunity to highlight the humanitarian plight of the Iraqi people. For the half a million refugees unable to return home, and the one and a half million Iraqis displaced inside the country, the end of U.S. operations in Iraq does not mean that peace has returned. Their original homes and communities are either destroyed or insecure, and they remain in a dangerous and unsettled limbo.Read more…
Pending durable solutions through voluntary returns, resettlement to third countries or local integration, protection and material assistance for some 40,000 refugees will continue to be provided in camps, settlements and individual urban refugees. Read more…
Seven years after the March 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq remains deeply divided. There are few prospects of durable solutions for the approximately 15 per cent of the population who are displaced inside and outside Iraq. It is thought that there are almost 2.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs), close to half of whom were displaced prior to 2003.
The policy briefing considers the situation of displaced populations within Iraq's national borders and of communities of Iraqis living under difficult circumstances in a number of Middle Eastern states. The paper suggests that despite military and policy discourses of renewed stability in Iraq, the crisis is far from over and that mass return is unlikely as long as security remains a key concern. It presents some key principles for consideration by policy makers in government, in migration agencies and in the humanitarian networks and recommends that further research should be conducted on the scale, circumstances and patterns of movement of Iraqis within and beyond the Middle East.
The February 2006 bombing of the Al-Askari mosque in Samarra and ensuing sectarian violence led to the most significant wave of displacement in Iraq’s modern history, prompting more than 1.6 million people to flee their homes and bringing the total internally displaced population in Iraq to more than 2.8 million people by late 2007. In 2008, the displacement rate slowed considerably due to an overall decrease in security incidents and a growing pattern of community sectarian homogenization. In addition, as conditions improved, a limited number of displaced Iraqis returned to areas of origin, a trend that continues at a gradual pace in 2009. As of July 2009, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated the Iraqi refugee population at 1.7 million people, a majority of whom reside in Syria and Jordan.
In recent years, large numbers of Iraqi citizens have left their country, escaping the violence and turmoil afflicting their homeland. Many have taken up residence in urban centres of neighbouring and nearby states, including Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), Aleppo and Damascus (Syria).
Context for Research: In total, according to government figures, close to 2.6 million people are internally displaced in Iraq, of an overall population of 28 million. In addition there are approximately two million Iraqi refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, mainly Jordan and Syria, since 2003.
There is a lot of talk these days about the prospects for the large-scale return of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Iraq. More than four million Iraqis have been displaced, either internally as IDPs or externally as refugees.
In February 2008 a Commission on Iraqi refugees formed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) visited Jordan and Syria to assess the condition of Iraqi refugees and then issued a comprehensive report on their findings entitled Five Years Later, A Hidden Crisis.
This is a study of Iraqis displaced in Jordan, taking particular note of the urban settings in which the largest number of Iraqis have settled and of their specific status as “guests.” It aims to inform near and long-term planning regarding—and necessarily involving—Iraqis throughout the region, as well as to contribute a case study on this particular group of displaced persons to the development by UNHCR and other actors of policies that might be broadly applicable regarding refugees and other persons of concern in urban settings.
Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence. Human Rights First protects people at risk: refugees who flee persecution, victims of crimes against humanity or other mass human rights violations, victims of discrimination, those whose rights are eroded in the name of national security, and human rights advocates who are targeted for defending the rights of others. These groups are often the first victims of societal instability and breakdown; their treatment is a harbinger of wider-scale repression. Human Rights First works to prevent violations against these groups and to seek justice and accountability for violations against them.
As IDP and refugee families continue to return slowly to Baghdad and other areas of Iraq, assessments of returnee families’ situations and needs are vital for targeting assistance and understanding the returnee context. IOM, in cooperation with MoDM, has been monitoring returnee families in Baghdad since December 2007. In addition, IOM, through its IDP monitoring network, expanded returnee monitoring to other governorates in Iraq.
Some aspects of the humanitarian crisis many feared would take place in March 2003 with the initial military operation in Iraq unfolded later as a result of the ongoing insurgency and sectarian violence. It is estimated that in total (including those displaced prior to the war) there may be as many as 2 million Iraqi refugees who have fled to Jordan, Syria, and other neighboring states, and approximately 2.7 million Iraqis who have been displaced within Iraq itself.
Since the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, millions of Iraqis have fled their homes. Today an estimated 750,000 to 2 millioni Iraqi refugees live in unstable situations in urban centers in the Middle East. For a more detailed discussion of different estimates of Iraqi refugee numbers, please read the footnote at the end of this blueprint. Palestinian refugees who were living in Iraq have been refused entry by all of Iraq’s neighbors, and 3,000 are now stranded in camps along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Another 2.7 million Iraqis are internally displaced persons (IDPs) within their country; 1.7 million of these IDPs have fled their homes since 2003.
Lost in discussions of the military surge, the pace of troop drawdowns, and political benchmarks are millions of displaced Iraqi women, children, and men. Their plight is both a humanitarian tragedy and a strategic crisis that is not being addressed. The massive Iraqi displacement is like the proverbial elephant in the room: U.S. administration officials may acknowledge it as an important issue but lack a serious long-term plan to address the crisis.
The displacement of Iraqis is one of the key challenges faced by the Government of Iraq and international community. Displacement in Iraq has reached an alarming level which has attracted the attention of all Government, non-governmental and international agencies trying to find appropriate solutions and strategies to reverse the situation and swiftly address the issues.
This protection assessment mission to Syria is a joint effort of the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB-MRS). The mission was funded by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM).
Four years after the U.S. launched its attack against Iraq, the civil war there has produced a humanitarian crisis marked by the world’s fastest growing refugee and internally displaced populations. But Iraq, Washington and the U.N. do not acknowledge the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis. This has led to an inadequate response, both within Iraq and in the region.
This survey was designed as a quantitative research project, enabling the collation of reliable statistical data. The sample size and sample units for the questionnaires were determined on the basis of information on the size and locations of IDP communities in each of the Iraqi governorates. Households were selected as either the sample unit or unit of analysis and most respondents were the head of the household. The IDP Intentions Survey covered 8,299 households from 262 settlements across all 18 governorates of Iraq. All major ethnic-religious groups were included in the sample, and a total of 216,834 households were included in the survey frame. Survey conducted during 2006 and 2007
Joint Iraq Policy Brief: "Fallen Off the Agenda? More and Better Aid Needed for Iraq Recovery" - Mercy Corps and NCCI - July 2010
In order to effectively contribute to Iraq's recovery, the EU and its member states, including the UK, should acknowledge the need for more significant and longer-term commitment. Furthermore, they should improve aid effectiveness by ensuring more direct participation of the Iraqi people in the recovery processes.
