Hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe-CSCE Partner States and Neighbors Overwhelmed by Iraqi Refugees: Band-Aid Solution to Implosion in the Middle East?
Interview
Hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe-CSCE Partner States and Neighbors Overwhelmed by Iraqi Refugees: Band-Aid Solution to Implosion in the Middle East?
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REP. CHRISTOPHER SMITH (R-NJ): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Let me just echo your respect and gratitude to the government of Sweden, as well. And if you add all of the number of Iraqis who have emigrated there, many of them being asylum seekers, up to 100,000 Iraqis are in Sweden, again, underscoring I think a very strong sense of generosity on their part. And I think it's important to point that out and hold it up so that others see it, not just in the United States, but also among our European friends and partners.
I do want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this very timely hearing on the deeply disturbing plight of Iraqi refugees and the impact that the crisis is having on OSCE partners, states and neighbors.
The numbers that are associated with this crisis are staggering. One in five Iraqis have been displaced from their homes since 2003. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees estimates that 2.5 million Iraqis have fled the country and some 2.4 million others, almost 9 percent of the population, are internally displaced. And this is occurring in a region that is already beset, as we all know, by a catastrophic series of humanitarian and political challenges.
It is reported that most of those who have fled Iraq are so- called moderates, lawyers, doctors and other working-class professionals. Even though they are not allowed to work legally in their countries of refuge, it seems many, if not most, are saying that they have no intention to return to Iraq. Their resources, to the extent that they were able to leave with them, are quickly dwindling.
Jordan, Syria and other neighboring countries are not state parties to the 1951 U.N. convention relating to the status of refugees, or the 1967 protocol, and these countries refuse to recognize the Iraqi populations as refugees and to accord them the rights and benefits that accompany such a designation, preferring instead to refer to them as "guests."
This refusal is due at least in part to these countries' historical experience and ongoing challenges with the Palestinian refugee population, which is also complicating the Iraqi situation. Syria and Jordan have received the vast majority of those fleeing Iraq. An estimated 1.5 million are in Syria and 500,000 to 750,000 have escaped to Jordan.
UNICEF reports that half of those who have fled their homes in Iraq are children, and that as many has 320,000 Iraqi children are in Syria alone. Refugee children who are allowed to attend the public schools must try to learn in seriously overcrowded classrooms.
Uncertainty about their residence permits and visas creates another barrier to education, as many parents are reluctant to seek out these and other social services.
Furthermore, poverty is pulling many Iraqi children out of school and forcing to work, placing them in extremely vulnerable situations, in addition to depriving them of the learning that they will need to secure hope for the future.
Women are also being exploited, and many are resorting to prostitution in order to provide for themselves and their families. In addition to suffering and other risks that circumstances inherently engender, I am also deeply concerned as to whether a door has been opened for human traffickers, who would be all too anxious to take advantage of such vulnerabilities.
Not only would they see opportunities within the host countries, but perhaps even more so at the borders, where they could take advantage of the near impossibility of obtaining an Iraqi passport and the refusal of neighboring countries to issue visas, circumstances that encourage human smuggling, which in turn enhance the opportunities for human trafficking.
I look forward to engaging our witnesses in the discussion as to whether or not there is any indication that this human rights violation is occurring.
Another serious humanitarian concern is the health status of Iraqi refugees. It is dismaying and extraordinarily tragic to point out that a surprising number of refugees in Syria, especially children, have various forms of cancer. Others with chronic illnesses, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, are unable to manage these diseases due to the costs of health care and the shortage of humanitarian assistance in this area.
There are organizations that are struggling to address these needs, including the Catholic Relief Services, which is not only funding mobile clinics, kidney dialysis and prescriptions for chronic diseases, but also mental health support groups to try to address the psychosocial consequences of the violence that these refugees have endured.
And yet the health, educational and other basic needs of this enormous population remain great and current efforts are not sufficient to address them. The situation is also exacerbating the poverty, social services and political tensions among citizens of the host countries, tensions that need to be quelled, before they explode.
That is why, once again, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to hear from our very distinguished witnesses and to explore what measures we ought to be taking in order to mitigate this problem. I yield back the balance.
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REP. SMITH: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I too will put most of my questions, but just ask a few and ask that you get back in a written way in a timely fashion.
Just two very brief ones on the money issue. In December, $150 million was provided for Iraqi refugees. The NGOs have suggested that the supplemental ought to be about $125 million more. The administration request is for $30 million, which seems to be inadequate, and maybe you could explain whether or not we could up that amount to get it closer to $125 million.
And, obviously, the consortium of groups, the partners, if you will, really do know the situation on the ground like you do and I know very often your requests go through OMB and what you ask for isn't necessarily what you get.
And, secondly, Ambassador Crocker this week in his congressional testimony said that UNHCR has returned international staff to assist with the return of internally displaced persons and refugees. And the question there, briefly, would be does the high commissioner believe that conditions in Iraq are conducive to returns, or is anticipatory? Or are they trying to get ready for, rather than to begin, that kind of processing?
And, finally, on the whole issue of human trafficking, which I raised in my opening comments, have we seen any evidence whatsoever on the ground that either such trafficking or labor trafficking has become a problem among the displaced persons or among the refugees?
And, again, I will submit the remainder for your answer?
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REP. SMITH: Mr. Chairman, thank you so very much.
And, Mr. Gabaudan, if I could ask you on behalf of the audience here, yesterday, General Petraeus, and the before, Ambassador Crocker, testified before the House and the Senate. And Ambassador Crocker, and you probably heard me say earlier, when quoted him, said that the UNHCR has returned international staff to Iraq to assist with the return of internally displaced persons.
And, obviously, we all see that and greet that with a great deal of hope and optimism. And I'm sure it's not to the point where, and you can tell us, doing much processing in and of itself. But I would ask, if you could, tell us about the conditions on the ground.
One of the things that General Petraeus emphasized was that there are now some 91,000 what they're calling sons of Iraq, who now, acting out of self interest and enlightened self interest, who now understand that Al Qaida and other militants don't mean them well -- they are a lethal threat to their families and to their communities -- are now joining a growing number of the police battalions, as well as the military battalions and acting in a way that you would expect a security force to do so.
And I wondered if you might shed some light as to whether or not that's creating some of the space that we're all hoping for for that return.
Secondly, along the same lines, the surge was and is controversial. I happened to have supported it. Nobody likes the fact that our military men and women are deployed there. The sooner they get home the better, from all of our points of view, because we have lost so many lives. But it seems to me that if the surge has created a space that will allow repatriation to help and to assist the internally displaced, that needs to be said. And we need to know whether or not that's accurate and whether or not reality and perception are meshed as one.
On the mental health side, and I appreciate the good work of UNHCR and ACCESS.
Mr. Saleh, thank you for your statement. I was struck by your comment that 100 percent of those interviewed experienced at least one traumatic event.
I sponsored the Torture Victims Relief Act, and we have a reauthorization now that is pending in the Senate, has been pending for months, is being held up by one particular senator. And I have talked to him several times asking him to lift his hold.
We need to provide, I believe, the additional resources that legislation would push us towards, both in terms of the U.N. voluntary fund and the torture victim relief centers here in the United States and abroad. So your point is well taken and I will talk to him about what you've told us today. But we need to push to get that out as soon as possible.
And, finally, two things. On trafficking, what are you seeing, particularly on the ground with regards to trafficking in country, in Iraq, as well as outside? And the Chaldean Christians, I held a hearing on their plight and their very unique circumstances that they suffer in Iraq and I think disproportionately to their number they make up the refugee population. Obviously in raw numbers they don't.
But maybe you could speak to that issue, as well, as to whether or not, because many of those individuals have been killed, kidnapped and suffer immensely, and I don't think many of them can go back.
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