Submitted by crinadmin on
[21 June 2007] - The Middle East is facing a refugee crisis of epic proportions – fleeing Iraqis comprise the single largest regional displacement of persons in the last half century. Two million Iraqis have flooded into neighboring countries, with Jordan and Syria bearing the brunt of this crisis. Another two million are internally displaced within Iraqi borders. In total, more than four million Iraqis are now trapped in internal or external exile. The crisis continues as massive numbers continue to flee monthly – this crisis is not going away. The Iraqi children refugees are perhaps the most vulnerable of all among this drastically war-affected population. The children and their families are escaping infamously brutal violence involving wholesale devastation of the Iraq social fabric. During our interviews, Iraqi families exiled in Jordan told stories of suicide bombs, home invasions accompanied by beatings, and kidnappings for ransom. They described receipt of “night letters” deposited at doors threatening murder of entire families, forcing flight from ancestral homes within one or two days time. Iraqis families are hiding without legal status in foreign countries strained beyond service limits in education, health, employment and housing. Given the difficulties, Iraqi children commonly exhibit signs of severe psychological damage as they sit in cramped apartments mostly unable to attend school. In short, a generation of psychologically scarred, under-educated, and disenchanted Iraqi youth are growing up in exile. There is no end in sight to the violence suffered in Iraq, and no immediate prospect of return for this brutalised population scattered throughout the Middle East. The international community of nations must provide dramatically increased assistance to bring badly-needed education, health care, expansion of resettlement opportunities and expedited refugee processing, for the Iraqi refugee children and their families. The international community must stop ignoring this growing crisis. We must fi nd tangible solutions for this abandoned and desperate population of Iraqi refugee children and their families. Further information
Solutions are desperately needed for this brutalised population trapped in an international legal limbo. They cannot go back and they cannot go forward.
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/WV_Report_Iraq_0607.pdf