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WASHINGTON - Millions of Iraqi refugees fleeing violence and sectarian cleansing after the United States-led invasion four years ago are finding it nearly impossible to get safe harbour in America, including those who risked their lives helping President George W. Bush's war effort.
The new Democratic-controlled US Congress
has begun pressuring the Republican Bush Administration to open the door to them, especially the Iraqi translators and others who face gang-style execution at home for working with American combat troops.
"I think they [the Bush Administration] are in the process of moving although I think it's very slow," said Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. Last year the US accepted 202 Iraqis out of its 70,000 refugee slots worldwide. In contrast, Australia said it granted about 2000 such visas to Iraqis last year.
"We are absolutely seized with the issue of how we can help those people who have worked for, provided assistance to the United States Government," Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey told the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.
But she said security steps taken in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US made it difficult to accept Iraqi refugees. Tough screening procedures in turn discouraged the UNHCR from making referrals.
Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch, said Iraqis working for American forces went through extensive security checks before being hired: "If you were a smart terrorist, you could find easier ways to get to the United States."
Frelick said two factors contributed to the Bush Administration's near moratorium on accepting Iraqi refugees.
Bureaucrats didn't want to take chances on Iraqis, Frelick said.
"It generally is easier to say no than to say yes."
Politics also played a role, he said.
"The very people the US is relying on for the enterprise of building a stable democracy in Iraq are the very people who are fleeing the country. To admit those people are fleeing would be to recognise the enterprise is not succeeding," Frelick said.
In 1939, the SS St Louis, with about 1000 German Jewish refugees, was refused entry to the US and sailed back to Europe, where many were killed in the Holocaust. But since World War II the US has mostly reacted quickly to refugee crises, according to rights groups, especially when American policy had a role in a human tragedy.
MASS EXODUS
Iraq
Of Iraq's population of 26 million, 1.7 million are internally displaced and up to two million have fled abroad, says the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Last year nearly 500,000 Iraqis fled to other parts of the country due to ethnic and sectarian violence. The UNHCR tries to resettle registered Iraqi refugees but found host countries for only 404 worldwide in the first nine months of last year.
Jordan
Half a million to a million Iraqis live in Jordan, which also hosts more than 1.8 million Palestinian refugees registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency. They fled in 1948 or 1967. About 16 per cent of the Palestinians live in refugee camps. Not counting the Iraqis, Jordan has about 5.5 million people, more than half of Palestinian origin.
Syria
Half a million to a million Iraqis have taken refuge in Syria, which also hosts 432,000 Palestinian refugees, 27 per cent of whom live in camps. Syria has a population of 18.6 million, not counting the refugees.
Lebanon
Up to 40,000 Iraqis have fled to Lebanon, which hosts 404,000 Palestinian refugees, 53 per cent of whom live in camps. Lebanon has about four million people, but nearly 25 per cent of them are believed to live abroad. Thanks to a long tradition of migration, Lebanese communities exist worldwide, especially in Brazil, Canada, the United States, Australia and France.
Others
Some 20,000 to 80,000 Iraqis have fled to Egypt, 54,000 to Iran and others to Turkey and Arab Gulf states.
- REUTERS