It seems like Syria just let them in the country to get money (International
Aid) from other countries.
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Iraqi Refugees in Syria Turning to the Unknown
By Raya Shokatfard
Freelance Writer - Egypt
Iraqi refugees wait to register their names at the UNHCR centre in the
Douma suburb of Damascus, July 19, 2007. (Reuters Photo)
As nations praise Syria for being the only Arab country keeping its borders
open for the Iraqis driven from their homes, the refugees blame Syria and the
rest of the world for forgetting about their hardship and needs.
"They let us in, but stamp our passport with 'work not permitted' and give us
no financial support," said a woman holding eight passports in her hands
outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) office in
Sayeda Zainab district. "How are we supposed to live, on what?" she screamed,
crying about the financial hardship they are facing, living on the very little
basics.
Currently, Syria hosts about 1.5 million refugees, according to the UNHCR.
Immediately prior to the Iraq war, Syria entered into an agreement with the
UNHCR to provide temporary protection to Iraqis during the instability in Iraq;
they are given a renewable 3-month legal residence visa.
Due to lack of work, some of the Iraqis who exhaust their savings have to
return to Iraq and face further hardship; some with better financial
capabilities seek other countries.
Resonated With Sorrow
"They let us in, but stamp our passport with 'work not permitted' and
give us no financial support," said a woman holding eight passports.
Beside financial hardship, much of the suffering the Iraqis face in Syria is
due to lack of adequate medical help.
A man showed a picture of his little girl with a bloated and deformed stomach
that, he explained, may have been caused by her mother's exposure to depleted
uranium prior to giving birth. He gets no financial help from the Iraqi
government or the US; Syria would pay only for limited medical costs.
An elderly woman cried as she talked about her adult daughter who has some
disease causing her to be overweight, making her unable to walk. There are not
enough medical resources for any remedy for her. Others described their
sufferings as their faces resonated with sorrow.
An elderly Christian man who could barely walk, was in bad need of knee
surgery, but unable to find such help. He was desperately approaching reporters
or any foreigners begging them to find him a way to leave the country and
arrange for a knee operation.
Some of the afflictions were more difficult to bear than others. A wife of a
blind Sunni Imam was crying with grief as he was talking about how they lost
everything they had during the US occupation of Iraq, including a dignified
life back home. Now they are merely refugees with no more possessions, she
said. Their mosque was bombed by the Americans, leaving scores dead or wounded.
Her husband has lost sight due to the bombing, but narrowly escaped death.
As for Iraqis inside Syria, although nearly 1000 persons per day register with
the UNHCR, there is still a large number unaccounted for. When they register,
they get international relief protection, especially for the vulnerable
families.
"People don't have to register unless they think we can help them," Wilkes said.
Yet, in a visit of the UNHCR office in Sayyada Zainab district, most of the
Iraqis showed their registration and complained that this paper has made no
difference in their situation and they have received no help.
Double Displacement
A Sunni Imam talked about how they lost everything they had during the US
occupation of Iraq, including a dignified life back home.
Iraqis are not the only ones suffering as refugees. Palestinians from Iraq have
the worse of the conditions among the refugees. Some Iraqis who have made it
into Syria are grateful they are not in the Palestinian camps - isolated and
without recourses.
Although the Palestinian refugees in the camps receive food and tents, they are
deprived of all other amenities Iraqis might get.
UNHCR's regional public information officer in Syria, Sybella Wilkes, said the
situation in the overcrowded Al-Tamp and Al-Waleed makeshift camps, where close
to 1400 Palestinian refugees from Iraq stay, is very bad. Al-Tamp camp is in no
man's land, while Al-Waleed camp is inside Iraq, but close to the Syrian
borders. Children are stranded. No one is allowed to cross the borders. There
is deficiency in medical facilities and emergency services. According to
Wilkes, there are at least 12 children there who are in need of immediate
medical attention or they will face death.
Abdul Majeed Alwali and Taleb Ghadi Amin from the ministry of information say
that since 1948 all Arab countries agreed that the Palestinians are to go back
to Palestine, which did not occur. Palestinian Iraqis cannot come to Syria
because they would lose their right to return to Iraq and Palestine, which
drives them into the refugee camps. Israel wants other countries to give them
identities that would make it easy for Israel to refuse their return under the
pretext that they have another identity. If they enter Syria, Israel will never
accept them back to Palestine.
Silver Lining
Although nearly 1000 Iraqi refugee per day register with the UNHCR in
Syria, there is still a large number unaccounted for, July 19, 2007. (Reuters
Photo)
Perhaps the refugees from Iraq are unaware of all the assistance Syria has
offered them in various forms. They only focus on the financial assistance they
are not receiving.
Ahmad Mahmood, a 25-year-old Iraqi said he has been in Syria for a year with
his family. His uncle and friends were killed, and lately he lost his cousin
too. He and his family had to leave Iraq due to lack of security. Even though
he was educated and worked as a journalist in Iraq, there are no jobs for him
in Syria. He hopes to go to Jordan one day to seek a better future.
Wilkes mentioned the tremendous help the government of Syria has offered to
ease the plight of refugees, referring to the recent agreement between the
Syrian government and the UNHCR in May,2007. According to the UNHCR website,
Syria agreed to pay $2.6 million for the rehabilitation of public hospitals in
Damascus, capacity-building for medical staff, and the provision of new medical
equipments. The amount is in addition to 11 ambulances that UNHCR is delivering
to the Ministry of Health, Syrian Red Crescent, and the Palestinian Red
Crescent.
In a press briefing in May, Jennifer Pagonis the spokesperson for UNHCR is
quoted as saying that this agreement was part of UNHCR's commitment to support
the country's response to the influx of Iraqi refugees. Since the beginning of
the year, UNHCR has committed a total of $9.6 million in agreements with the
Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the Ministry of Education and the Governorate of
Al-Hassake, the UNHCR website states. The funds are being used to rehabilitate
70 schools and build three new ones, to provide thousands of Iraqi
schoolchildren in Syria with textbooks and other supplies, to construct a new
hospital in Damascus, to support nine health clinics, and to provide food to
Palestinian and Iraqi refugees.
Syria is still under tremendous financial strain to cover the burden of
refugees and hopes to receive some aid from the international community.
In the April Geneva UNHCR conference, Ant?nio Guterres, appealed to the
representatives of more than 60 countries to address the humanitarian crisis
facing the refuges and aiding countries who are hosting large number of them -
easing some of their burden (UNHCR).
Aggravating Problem
Syria is still under tremendous financial strain to cover all the
overload and hope to receive some aid from the international community.
Syria and Jordan are hosting the largest number of refugees; according to the
UNHCR, about 50,000 people continue to flee Iraq every month. Other countries
like Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and Turkey are also hosting a number of refugees. In
2006, Iraqis became the largest group of asylum-seekers in industrialized
countries, a position they last occupied in 2002, according to Guterres.
Further, 2 million Iraqis are believed to be displaced within Iraq.
The worsening security situation in Iraq is leading to the continues influx of
refugees to Syria.
Oday Fatah, who was an NBC security guard in Iraq, said he just ran away a week
ago. The gunmen surrounded him and were about to shoot him in the leg when he
got away and hid among the crowd. "Everyone has to protect himself. People are
very afraid," he said.
Ahmad Kamel Raad who started a barber shop 2 years ago in an alley off the
beaten path, said the Sunni militia threatened him; he left the country out of
fear.
The Iraqi government has pledged $25 million of support mainly to Syria and
Jordan, according to UNHCR report.
A one-day conference held on July 27 in Jordan, explored more ways to ease the
burden of countries hosting the more than 2.5 million Iraqi refugees.
The two countries, Syria and Jordan, have repeatedly warned that the influx was
exhausting their limited resources, burdening their health-care and education
systems, and causing a sharp rise in inflation and real estate prices.
Syrian government, being the only country leaving its borders open, is now
under great pressure to satisfy the great needs of the refugees and calm the
anger of Syrians who feel enough is enough.
According to Islamic Relief Foundation, there are a lot of conferences and
meetings regarding the refugees in Syria. Many decisions are made, but the
refugees do not seem to get any direct benefit from it.
Whether the refugees are Iraqis or Palestinians, poor or rich, elderly or
children, hopeful professionals or struggling widows, their lives and families
have been torn apart with no immediate hope for the return to their homeland.
A refugee woman shouting in Sayyeda Zainab district sums it all: "we have been
filmed, interviewed, reports written about us, but nothing has changed," she
said. "We are starving and these reports have not made any difference about our
condition."
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