Megan Hoelle and C. Eduardo Vargas meet with Mr. Guirgis I. Saleh, General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches

During the month of August 2008, Megan Hoelle and C. Eduardo Vargas traveled to Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria to explore future projects in these countries aimed at amplifying the plight of Iraqi refugees. Intersections is dedicated to advocating for the needs of Iraqis who have been displaced due to the current conflict. In particular, Intersections is exploring projects that would bring the individual stories of Iraqis back to the United States, in an effort to mobilize public interest in improving the Iraqi situation. As Vargas stated, “many people in the United States view the Iraqi conflict from a purely political and military perspective, however we seek to show the human side of this engagement and will work diligently to help those Iraqis displaced as a result of it.”Fruitful meetings and site visits with such organizations as Caritas Internationalis, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, The Middle East Council of Churches, UNHCR, and the U.S. State Department helped Hoelle and Vargas gain first-hand knowledge of the current situation in the three countries. Currently, there are an estimated 50,000 Iraqis living in Lebanon, a market-oriented country that does not provide free social services to its citizens. Iraqis living there are viewed by the government as illegal migrants and are subject to arrest at any time. Lack of legal status for refugees in all three countries is a major concern, interfering with the possibility of obtaining local employment, thereby making the refugees completely dependent on personal savings and humanitarian assistance.

The situation deteriorates the closer one is to Iraq. It is estimated that between 400 – 500 thousand Iraqis are living in Jordan. In this kingdom, the government allows Iraqis to enroll in public education; however due to complex regulations, fear of being deported and lack of degree recognition by other countries, many Iraqis opt not to attend school and are kept out of the workforce.

Hoelle outside UNHCR in Amman, Jordan: As of July 2008, UNHCR Jordan had registered over 54,000 individuals. An estimated 500,000 Iraqis are living in Jordan.

In contrast to Jordan and Lebanon, Syria has been a more welcoming country for Iraqi refugees. Although legal status as refugees has not been conferred and employment opportunities are few and far between, the government and security forces turn a blind eye to their Iraqi “guests” and they are able to participate in quotidian Syrian life. Here Iraqis tend not to live in the same fear as their counterparts in Lebanon and Jordan. However due to the limited resources this country has, and their tight control and inhospitable attitude towards international humanitarian organizations, the refugees have less access to the humanitarian aid received in other two countries.Hoelle and Vargas also met with Iraqis to hear first-hand accounts of the violence they experienced before leaving Iraq, the challenges faced as urban refugees in these new countries and their hopes of being resettled to a third country to start life anew. Hoelle summed up the refugees’ stories by relating how “shocked I was by how commonplace stories of rape and abduction were. Almost every family had experienced some sort of atrocity and were now stuck in a state of suspended animation, waiting to be resettled-an option that only a few of them will be lucky enough to receive-and wondering when they would be able to start really living again.”

For more information about Intersections work with Iraqis, please visit our website.

To see pictures from our trip to the Middle East, click here.

To read more about the current situation of Iraqi refugees, see the links below from the organizations that we met with.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees
www.unhcr.org http://www.unhcr.org/country/jor.html
http://www.unhcr.org/country/lbn.html
http://www.unhcr.org/country/syr.html
http://www.unhcr.org/country/irq.html

Caritas Internationalis
http://www.caritas.org/
http://www.caritas.org.lb/en/homepage.html
http://www.caritas.org/worldmap/mona/lebanon.html http://www.caritas.org/worldmap/mona/jordan.html

Mercy Corps
http://www.mercycorps.org/

http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/jordan

The Middle East Council of Churches
http://www.mec-churches.org/

Catholic Relief Services
http://crs.org/ http://crs.org/Lebanon/