Highbrow Magazine - Iraqi refugees https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/iraqi-refugees en Refugee Crisis: 65 Million People Displaced Last Year https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5888-refugee-crisis-million-people-displaced-last-year <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 06/26/2016 - 17:06</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1refugees_0.jpg?itok=mVSvWaOW"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1refugees_0.jpg?itok=mVSvWaOW" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.thehartfordguardian.com/2016/06/20/draft-created-on-june-20-2016-at-316-pm/">The Hartford Guardian</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>NEW YORK, NY — More than 65 million people were displaced and had to flee their home countries, according a United Nations reports released on Monday.</p> <p> </p> <p>That staggering figure represents the number of people in Britain and France, according to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report. The number of refugees rose by 5.8 million in 2015 over last year’s figure. And the 65 million displaced to date hits a record high , UN officials said.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Commissioner also reported that many refugees are mainly displaced by rising violence, insecurity, and persecution.</p> <p> </p> <p>Of the 65.3 million displaced, 21.3 million fled their home countries, and 40.8 million remain displaced inside their countries.</p> <p> </p> <p>UN officials said the number of displaced refugees have jumped since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011.</p> <p> </p> <p>And Palestinians are the largest group of refugees, at more than five million. Syrians are second, at 4.9 million, Afghans are next at 2.7 million, and Somalians at 1.1 million.</p> <p> </p> <p>Outside the Middle East and Africa, there is also a growing number of refugees from Central America. In 2015, there was a 17 percent rise in those fleeing their homes.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2refugees_0.jpg" style="height:415px; width:625px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>In a statement to the press, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the war in Syria alone has displaced more than 11 million people – half of that nation’s pre-war population. Millions more have fled Daesh’s atrocities in Iraq, civil wars in Yemen and South Sudan.</p> <p> </p> <p>Also, political violence in Burundi, and Boko Haram’s rampages through Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad have contributed to that staggering figure.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The refugees we welcome to the United States will join previous generations who have come to this country to escape violence and persecution – threats to human life and dignity that remain all too real today,” Kerry said.</p> <p> </p> <p>President Barack Obama noted the resilience and courage of refugees across the nation and said the United States has an open-door policy toward most refugees.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Protecting and assisting refugees is apart of our history as a nation, and we will continue to alleviate the suffering of refuges abroad, and to welcome them here at home, because doing so reflects our American values and our noblest traditions as nation.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.thehartfordguardian.com/2016/06/20/draft-created-on-june-20-2016-at-316-pm/">The Hartford Guardian</a> and republished by our content partner New America Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/refugee-crisis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">refugee crisis</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/syrian-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">syrian refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraqi-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraqi refugees</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ann-Marie Adams</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Google Images; Wikipedia Commons</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 26 Jun 2016 21:06:42 +0000 tara 7019 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5888-refugee-crisis-million-people-displaced-last-year#comments The Invisible Refugees https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3204-invisible-refugees <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 11/19/2013 - 08:57</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1refugees.jpg?itok=GRlKltgz"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1refugees.jpg?itok=GRlKltgz" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From our content partner, <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/11/the-invisible-refugees---internally-displaced-people.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> For every Syrian who escaped the civil war in his or her homeland by crossing international borders, there are three more displaced within the country. Those who manage to leave become refugees. Those who stay behind remain invisible. But they are part of a growing population of refugees that are often without international support, a sub-group of people whose basic needs are rarely addressed by the global community: the internally displaced.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Since the civil war started in April 2011, 2.2 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.  But according to the USAID there are at least 6.5 million internally displaced people who failed to do so and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, but largely remain out of reach for international aid organizations.</p> <p>  </p> <p> All who must abandon their homes suffer, of course. But those who escaped the fighting in their homelands by fleeing abroad at least managed to survive, even if they have to subsist in tents and ramshackle huts and depend on charities and donations. Some receive the world’s sympathy and media coverage. A rare few even found asylum in the West.</p> <p>  </p> <p> By contrast, those who are internally displaced fare much worse, as they become truly dispossessed. They fail to cross an international demarcation and thereby don’t legally qualify as refugees. Instead of receiving international protection and media coverage, many remain invisible and live in constant fear. As in the case of Syria, with state restrictions on international media coverage and public assistance, very little protection for displaced persons can be had.</p> <p>  </p> <p> A United Nations report “Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement” defines internally displaced persons (IDP) as “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized state border.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> It is the "natural or human-made disasters" part of the UN definition – which itself is not legally binding - that makes the number difficult to quantify and monitor. Do the millions of roaming Chinese within the country because of industrial pollution that’s devastated their farmland or displacement by a government building project count as internally displaced people? And what do we make of Japanese citizens forced out of Fukushima region? How about those who fled from environmental degradation and drought? There is just no easy way to quantify this population of the displaced.</p> <p>  </p> <p> On top of the current news curve is the story of the victims of Haiyan typhoon in the Philippines. Some 800,000 are reportedly homeless, and conditions worsened as many are living without support in a hard-to-reach area. But they at least are garnering world sympathy and news coverage. And the Filipino government is amenable to international support.</p> <p>  </p> <p> For the majority of the displaced population, their stories aren’t told. But their numbers are increasing. According to the UNCHR,  there are 26.4 million internally displaced people in the world in 2011. But some organizations estimate that the actual number of IDP is easily twice the number of internationally recognized refugees, if not triple that amount. The figure can fluctuate due to the sudden outbreak of civil war or a natural disaster such as an erupting volcano, tsunami or earthquake.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/2refugees.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 363px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> Distributions of food and medicine vary from place to place, and IDP protection depends on where they find themselves and which country they are in. Haiti is but a quick jump over from the United States and after the earthquakes in 2010, food and supplies and media coverage came relatively quickly – if chaotically - for earthquake victims. But after years of civil war in Darfur, hundreds of villages have been destroyed, 400,000 have died, and 2.2 million are now permanently displaced and many facing starvation and ongoing violence. It's a humanitarian crisis in which the international response is shockingly slow and ineffectual, and world attention is at best sporadic and the international community falls into what is popularly known as compassion fatigue.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  </p> <p> It may explain why there’s little coverage for the millions displaced in The Democratic Republic of Congo, where 45,000 people continue to die each month, and more than 6 million people have died from long drawn out war and famine.  And we know little about the hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya population in Rakhine state who are robbed of their homes due to religious persecution in Buddhist majority Myanmar.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Unless they drowned at sea trying to escape the country, as in the case of the 50 refugees last week, their stories remain largely untold. In Iraq, as of the end of 2012, there were 2.1 million displaced people as a result of the U.S. occupation and inter-ethnic strife.  In North Korea, the suffering and starvation of a large number of people remain mostly unknown.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Refugees and IDP are essentially the same. Both groups are coerced or compelled to flee in fear for their lives and security, but those who crossed international borders at least can afford a modicum of protection and assistance under existing global treaties, while those who don’t are entitled to little, and often garner little attention.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Pope John Paul II once called the plight of refugees "the greatest tragedy of all human tragedies" and "a shameful wound of our time." In the 21st century, that wound has festered and gangrened. How effectively we as an international community address it will largely determine the future of our global society. For all refugees' plight should challenge our conscience, as silence and indifference constitute the sin of omission.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio: </strong></p> <p> <em>Andrew Lam is an editor with New America Media and the author of three books, "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora," "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres," and his latest, "Birds of Paradise Lost," a collection of short stories about Vietnamese refugees struggling to rebuild their lives in the Bay Area. It's now available on Kindle.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2013/11/the-invisible-refugees---internally-displaced-people.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/international-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">international refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">refugees</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/syria" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Syria</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/syrian-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">syrian refugees</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraqi-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraqi refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/afghanistan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Afghanistan</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/afghan-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">afghan refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/displaced-people" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">displaced people</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:57:36 +0000 tara 3873 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/3204-invisible-refugees#comments A Year After Withdrawal, One Million Iraqi Refugees Remain Displaced https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1866-year-after-withdrawal-one-million-iraqi-refugees-remain-displaced <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 12/19/2012 - 09:23</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumiraqirefugees%20%28NAM%29.jpg?itok=0lKuLrgE"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumiraqirefugees%20%28NAM%29.jpg?itok=0lKuLrgE" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/12/no-relief-for-iraqi-refugees-one-year-after-us-withdrawal.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> Five years ago the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described the Iraqi refugee crisis as “the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948."</p> <p>  </p> <p> Not much has changed at the end of 2012, a year after US forces pulled out of Iraq. “Some one million people remain displaced throughout the country, of whom hundreds of thousands live in dire conditions,” the UNHCR recently noted. “Most are unable to return to their areas of origin because of the volatile security situation, the destruction of their homes, or lack of access to services.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> More than 2 million have fled to neighboring countries, where many subsist in designated resettlement areas. The United Nations reports that women are increasingly forced to resort to prostitution. Child labor has become a scourge. In Syria, more than 30 percent of Iraqi children are without schooling.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Yet while the United States had a direct hand in creating the exodus by invading and occupying that country for nearly a decade, spurring a civil war between religious groups, it is now more or less washing its hands of the refugee problem. Since 2007, the US has admitted a mere 64,000 asylum seekers - a pittance compared to the millions displaced -- and the number of refugees admitted has been going steadily down since 2010.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As of 2011, more than 30,000 Iraqis have applied for a Special Immigrant Visa, specifically created by Congress to expedite their cases, but to date only about 4,000 have been processed, and over one-third have been denied.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Perhaps the real problem has more to do with politics: Accepting Iraqi refugees would be akin to America admitting defeat in the aftermath of its efforts to pacify Iraq and the region. Former president George W. Bush prematurely declared Iraq a country of “freedom” and “democracy,” while President Obama, as a candidate in 2008, acknowledged that alleviating the Iraqi refugee crisis was America’s “moral obligation.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumObamaStateofUnion_0.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px;" /></p> <p>  </p> <p> “The Iraqis who stood with us are being targeted for assassination, yet our doors are shut. That is not how we treat our friends," candidate Obama declared. Alas, President Obama has done essentially nothing to abate the crisis since then.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Over a thousand translators who once worked for American military forces and British armies, and foreign journalists -- not to mention those hired by US companies doing reconstruction and those working in the Green Zone -- have been targeted and killed by various insurgent groups. Those who survived and remain are now living lives exponentially imperiled by the pullout of US forces.</p> <p>  </p> <p> History reminds us that there is a clear moral if not geopolitical mandate for the United States to help Iraq's refugees. In Vietnam, many of those who allied themselves with America during the war and stayed in the country were later sent to re-education camps; some were summarily executed and many were stripped of their properties. A far worse fate is likely for those who threw in their lot with America in Iraq, and who are now quickly becoming victims of its latest foreign policy failure.</p> <p>  </p> <p> When Congress debated whether to let in Vietnamese refugees in 1975, South Dakota Sen. George McGovern said it was better for the "Vietnamese to stay in Vietnam," and West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd thought that "barmaids, prostitutes and criminals" should be screened out. But President Ford threw his support behind the Vietnamese outcasts.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Witnessing such an act today from the president would seem unlikely, given rising anti-immigrant sentiment and a collective fear of mass migration from the Middle East. Besides, how could Obama accept Iraqi refugees when just last year, Secretary of Defense Leon Paneta declared the war has given “birth to an independent, free and sovereign Iraq?”</p> <p>  </p> <p> "We're not meeting our basic obligation to the Iraqis who've been imperiled because they worked for the U.S. government," noted Kirk W. Johnson in a <em>New York Times</em> article a few years back. Since then, Johnson, who penned “To Be a Friend is Fatal: A Story from the Aftermath of America at War,” has worked tirelessly to help those who once allied with the US army. "We could not have functioned without their hard work, and it's shameful that we've nothing to offer them in their bleakest hour," he wrote. Many who once allied with the U.S. now are in hiding, their application to the United States facing glitches and denials of employment. For those in Afghanistan, take heed: To befriend Uncle Sam can indeed be fatal.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But it’s inevitable that each time he ventures abroad, Uncle Sam leaves an unfinished story, and nowhere is it most unfinished than in Iraq, where despite flowery speeches regarding freedom and sovereignty by the Obama Administration, despite assurances that tyranny has been "cast aside," the tragedy and displacement caused by the United States invasion, occupation and abandonment is of an epic proportion.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>New America Media editor Andrew Lam is the author of "Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora" (Heyday Books, 2005), which recently won a Pen American "Beyond the Margins" award and "East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres." His next book, "Birds of Paradise Lost" is due out in 2013. He has lectured and read his work widely at many universities.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong><em>Photos: New America Media</em></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq-war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq war</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraqi-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraqi refugees</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-government" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. government</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/displaced-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">displaced refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/united-nations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">United Nations</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 19 Dec 2012 14:23:19 +0000 tara 2069 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1866-year-after-withdrawal-one-million-iraqi-refugees-remain-displaced#comments Iraq’s Unfinished Story: Millions of Refugees Abandoned by the U.S. https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/iraq-s-unfinished-story-millions-refugees-abandoned-us <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 01/06/2012 - 14:16</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumrefugees.jpg?itok=bLIulp_r"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumrefugees.jpg?itok=bLIulp_r" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/news/">New America Media</a>: Each time Uncle Sam ventures abroad, he leaves an unfinished story, and nowhere is it most unfinished than the story of Iraq, where despite flowery speeches regarding freedom and sovereignty by the Obama administration, despite assurances that tyranny has been "cast aside," the tragedy caused by the United States invasion, occupation and inevitable abandonment is on an epic proportion.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Never mind that sectarian violence continues unabated and much of the populace remains mired in poverty, and that there's a distinct possibility that the country is on its way to becoming a failed state if the Sunnis and Shiites cannot find a way to collectively govern.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The most unfinished story, however, is the population that the war has displaced. Whether tyranny has been cast aside is questionable, but certainly cast aside are the people of Iraq. They have been displaced both internally and internationally and are now imperiled by the sin of our omission.</p> <p>  </p> <p> According to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there are 1.7 million Iraqis living as internally displaced refugees, while more than 2 million others have fled across the border to Syria, Egypt, Jordan and other countries.</p> <p>  </p> <p> If the unfinished story has a theme, then it is surely betrayal. It is a painful lesson previous allies of the United States have learned….</p> <p>  </p> <p> The U.S. left unwanted children in Vietnam known as con lai – mixed-race children -- and it took years for them to come to the U.S., years in which many lived as abused and abandoned street children, as enemies of a society ashamed of their appearance and what they represented -- children of the enemy.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The U.S. also left tens of thousands of South Vietnamese allies to languish in re-education camps. And what of the thousands of Hmong fighters trained by the CIA during the Vietnam War to fight against communist guerrillas? They were abandoned in the jungle to fend for themselves against a government that aimed to eradicate them. Those who managed to escape to Thailand in recent times were told that it's too late -- they no longer qualify as refugees.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "The current exodus [from Iraq] is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948," according to the office of the UNHCR.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Although some have managed to integrate into host countries, the majority are destitute. Desperate to feed their family, many women have resorted to prostitution or become indentured servants.</p> <p>  </p> <p> At the height of the U.S. occupation, as fighting worsened, many crossed the borders seeking safety. Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia all saw a rise in Iraqi refugees. Syria in particular, which shares a 450-mile border with Iraq, bore the brunt of the mass exodus. Syrian officials estimate more than 700,000 Iraqis of all stripes are now living inside their country. Nearly half of the children receive no schooling.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Even worse, now that Syria itself has turned into a battlefield, the Iraqi refugees seeking safety there find themselves ironically in another version of Iraq and are searching for a new haven. Many fail to do so.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The number of refugees immigrating to the United States is at a trickle in comparison. So far only 58,811 Iraqis have been granted refugee status here. Indeed, if the U.S. has won for Iraq its freedom and democracy, as our government claims, why—goes the logic--should we accept refugees?</p> <p>  </p> <p> In the U.S., Homeland Security has enhanced its bureaucratic procedures, squeezing the immigration process so tightly that tens of thousands of those who qualify to come to the United States are languishing instead either in Iraq or elsewhere.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Their lives are exponentially endangered now that U.S. forces have pulled out. Various insurgent groups have targeted those working as interpreters for the U.S. and British armies or for foreign journalists--not to mention those hired by American companies doing reconstruction or working in the Green Zone.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "The Iraqis who stood with us are being targeted for assassination, yet our doors are shut. That is not how we treat our friends," President Obama said while campaigning for the White House in 2008. That same year Congress passed a bill for special immigration visas to be issued for 25,000, although so far only 3,415 have been processed.</p> <p>  </p> <p> "We're not meeting our basic obligation to the Iraqis, who've been imperiled because they worked for the U.S. government," noted Kirk W. Johnson in a <em>New York Times</em> article four years ago. Johnson, who worked for the United States Agency for International Development in Falluja in 2005, observed that, "We could not have functioned without their hard work, and it's shameful that we've nothing to offer them in their bleakest hour."</p> <p>  </p> <p> More recently he noted in the <em>Times</em> that “our policy in the final weeks of this war is as simple as it is shameful: Submit your paperwork and wait.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Do we have a moral obligation to those whose lives are endangered by their relationship with us, lives imperiled due to our intervention in Iraq? If the answer is no, then our Afghan partners might do well to consider other options and we should also ask what America really stands for. If the answer is no, the United States might consider removing the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty on which we boast, "Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The new one should read, "Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Only permanent interests."</p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em> Andrew Lam is author of </em>Perfume Dreams: Reflections on the Vietnamese Diaspora<em> and </em>East Eats West: Writing in Two Hemispheres. <em>His next book, </em>Birds of Paradise<em>, is due out in 2013. </em></p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/01/iraqs-unfinished-storymillions-of-refugees-abandoned-by-us.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">U.S.</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraq-war" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraq war</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/iraqi-refugees" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Iraqi refugees</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/immigration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">immigration</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Andrew Lam</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:16:55 +0000 tara 391 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/iraq-s-unfinished-story-millions-refugees-abandoned-us#comments