Refugees Personify Iraq War

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/06/05/1673/

Refugees Personify Iraq War
by Hieu Nguyen

In April, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees convened a conference in Geneva on the growing refugee crisis in Iraq.

Approximately 4 million Iraqi citizens, of a population of 24 million, have fled their homes to avoid the violence of war. About half are in neighboring countries such as Syria and Jordan, and half are dislocated within Iraq in fear of their lives.

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Vietnamese are still displaced inside their own country due to toxic materials left from war. Many areas are poisoned with dioxin or Agent Orange; children are born with severe birth defects and there is a high death rate from cancer. Unexploded bombs and mines are a daily threat for many.

Being a refugee outside one’s homeland means being dispossessed, stripped bare, lost. Refugees are not recognized by any country and their names are replaced with numbers and statistics. Every day of their lives becomes dependant upon the charity and pity of others. Families are often broken up and dispersed during the fleeing. Their lives are suspended with uncertainties and terrors, and not knowing what is next.

Our nation’s continuing occupation of Iraq causes further fighting and more displacement of Iraqis.

As called for by the UNHCR, the United States and Britain must take responsibility by providing sufficient funds to assist Iraq’s neighboring countries in housing and sheltering refugees.

We must hold our government accountable to end the war immediately and to develop a comprehensive plan for resettlement. This plan must ensure the refugees’ safety without any reprisals and provide sufficient material and psychological support to restart their lives.



Hieu Nguyen lives in Lake Forest Park. He escaped Vietnam by boat in March 1979 and came to the United States in August 1980 after 18 months in a refugee camp.

© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer

[HooptieWagon]

1. There are well over a million Iraqi refugees in Jordan...

... a country of only 5.5 million. This is indeed already a crisis, soon to be a disaster. Assumed among them is the noted blogger "Riverbend" - her last post of April 26th said she and her family were packing up to go to Jordan. There has been no word since; no one (including her publisher) knows if she made it safely to Jordan.