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Number of Iraqis recommended by UNHCR for resettlement hits 50,000

News Stories, 12 December 2008

© UNHCR/R.Vikström
Resettlement Milestone: Iraqi refugees take Swedish language classes in the town of Flen.

ALEPPO, Syria, December 12 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency reached a milestone late last month when a former Baghdad resident became the 50,000th Iraqi refugee submitted for resettlement from host countries in the Middle East.

UNHCR has not been bragging about the statistic, which has resulted from the violence and persecution that has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee Iraq in recent years. But Mohamed* was thrilled when he was given the news that he and his family had been recommended for resettlement in Sweden. "I felt that our suffering had been acknowledged, and that was important to me," he told UNHCR staff in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

The resettlement programme, covering refugees in Egypt, the Gulf states, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Yemen, began last year when it became apparent that some people would never be able to return to their homeland and could not, or would not, remain in host countries.

With 21,312 submissions in 2007 and 29,684 from January to the end of November this year, UNHCR hopes the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees will continue to be given an opportunity to rebuild their lives in third countries.

Laurens Jolles, the UNHCR representative in Syria, which hosts the largest refugee population from Iraq, said the agency had worked hard over the past year to give the most vulnerable Iraqis an opportunity to rebuild their lives in a new home. "It is vital for resettlement countries to allow them to start anew as quickly as possible," he added.

When a submission is accepted by the country of resettlement, it is usually only a matter of time before the refugee departs. Last year, less than 5,000 Iraqis moved to their new home countries, but the pace picked up in 2008. More than 17,400 have left their host countries for resettlement since January, mostly to the United States but also to Canada, Australia, Sweden and other European countries.

While those offered resettlement are almost always happy, many feel trepidation and apprehension about starting a new life in a strange country. And there are a few who want to remain close to their homeland and feel torn about whether or not to accept.

Reem* is one such refugee in Syria. She fled to Damascus with her two-year-old daughter after her husband and another infant daughter were abducted by masked men in Baghdad. She has paid US$3,000 trying to find out what happened to them but, after 18 months, she is none the wiser.

In the meantime, she applied for resettlement and recently found out that she and her daughter had been accepted by the United States. But now, anxious to offer her daughter a decent life yet torn by guilt that she would be abandoning her husband and other daughter if she leaves, she can't decide what to do.

She spends her days dwelling on the past, while her nights are full of horrible dreams. "Sometimes I wish the monsters that did this to my little baby and my husband would call me to tell me they are both dead so that I could leave. I'm so tired, so very tired of hoping," she confided.

Reem has asked the US authorities for more time, but she must make a decision by early next week or she will lose the right to resettlement. It's an awful dilemma that comes on top of a life scarred by the Iraqi tragedy.

Mohamed, meanwhile, has plans for his new life in Sweden. He hopes to teach and to work as a volunteer for charity organizations. "I was a volunteer for 36 years in Iraq. It had nothing to do with religion or politics, it was about citizens helping each other and that is what I believe in."

* Names changed for protection reasons.

By Carole Lalève in Aleppo, Syria

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UNHCR country pages

UNHCR Iraq Fact Sheet

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Integration Handbook: Refugee Resettlement

A relevant handbook on the reception and integration of resettled refugees.

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A repository for exchanging ideas on resettlement partnerships, June 2011.

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Crisis in Iraq: Displacement

UNHCR and its partners estimate that out of a total population of 26 million, some 1.9 million Iraqis are currently displaced internally and more than 2 million others have fled to nearby countries. While many people were displaced before 2003, increasing numbers of Iraqis are now fleeing escalating sectarian, ethnic and general violence. Since January 2006, UNHCR estimates that more than 800,000 Iraqis have been uprooted and that 40,000 to 50,000 continue to flee their homes every month. UNHCR anticipates there will be approximately 2.3 million internally displaced people within Iraq by the end of 2007. The refugee agency and its partners have provided emergency assistance, shelter and legal aid to displaced Iraqis where security has allowed.

In January 2007, UNHCR launched an initial appeal for US$60 million to fund its Iraq programme. Despite security issues for humanitarian workers inside the country, UNHCR and partners hope to continue helping up to 250,000 of the most vulnerable internally displaced Iraqis and their host communities

Posted on 12 June 2007

Crisis in Iraq: Displacement

Non-Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

After Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in Iraq in 2003, groups of refugees who had lived in the country for many years tried to leave the chaos and lawlessness that soon ensued. Hundreds of people started fleeing to the border with Jordan, including Palestinians in Baghdad and Iranian Kurds from the Al Tash refugee camp in central Iraq.

Aside from a few Palestinians with family connections inside the neighbouring country, the refugees were refused entry and free movement in Jordan. Thousands were soon stranded in the no-man's land between Iraq and Jordan or at the desert camp of Ruweished, located 60 kilometres inside Jordan.

Since 2003, Palestinians, Iranian Kurds, Iranians, Sudanese and Somalis have been living there and suffering the scorching heat and freezing winters of the Jordanian desert. UNHCR and its partners have provided housing and assistance and tried to find solutions – the agency has helped resettle more than 1,000 people in third countries. At the beginning of 2007, a total of 119 people – mostly Palestinians – remained in Ruweished camp without any immediate solution in sight.

Posted on 20 February 2007

Non-Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

The UN refugee agency has launched a US$60 million appeal to fund its work helping hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people. The new appeal concludes that unremitting violence in Iraq will likely mean continued mass internal and external displacement affecting much of the surrounding region. The appeal notes that the current exodus is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948.

UNHCR has warned that the longer this conflict goes on, the more difficult it will become for the hundreds of thousands of displaced and the communities that are trying to help them – both inside and outside Iraq. Because the burden on host communities and governments in the region is enormous, it is essential that the international community support humanitarian efforts.

The US$60 million will cover UNHCR's protection and assistance programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as well as non-Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people within Iraq itself.

Posted on 10 January 2007

Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

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