The growing conflict in Syria is leading to more and more
Iraqi refugees who reside there to make the decision to return home. Iraqi
officials have claimed that thousands and thousands of people are making the
trek back to Iraq. Those remarks do not always match the official numbers
collected by the United Nations so far. What awaits these returnees is also an
open question. Will they be able to find jobs and houses is only part of it,
there’s also the issue of how the government will receive them. Overall, they
are likely to struggle as they attempt to restart their lives in Iraq.
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| Iraqis returning from Syria on bus unload their things Aug. 2012 |
There have been various stories about a huge increase in the
number of Iraqi refugees coming back from Syria recently, but they do not quite
jive with statistics collected by the United Nations. At the beginning of
August 2012 for instance, the Displacement and Migration Ministry claimed that around 20,000 people had come back to Iraq in just the last few months. That included 15,000 in just nine days at the end of July, according to the
deputy minister. 4,000 of those were flown back on special flights set up by Baghdad, while the rest crossed back by land. That same month, Iraqi
Airways told the press that 2,673 people had gone back to Baghdad from Syria, and around 8,000 went to Anbar. The United Nations recorded a large number
of returnees as well, but not as many as reported in the press. From January to
July for example, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had
43,950 people coming back to Iraq from Syria. Its numbers supported the
20,000 figure made by the Displacement Ministry for the last several months as
it claimed 22,010 came back from April to July. Where it differed was in the
huge influx in recent months. For instance, it only had 4,300 people for all of
July, only a fraction of the 15,000 mentioned by the Deputy Displacement
Minister for nine days of that month. The UNHCR numbers are nowhere near
definitive, and could be revised in the future, but according to it, the number
of Iraqis coming back has actually slowed down in the last few months, not
picked up as the press has reported. The situation is definitely in flux, so
the actual number of people making the decision to return may only be clarified
later on.
UNHCR Refugee Returns
From Syria 2012
January 7,440
February 7,910
March 6,590
April 8,330
May 6,370
June 3,010
July 4,300
The problem isn’t in the statistics, but what will happen
now that all these people are back in the country. First, the government has
offered cash assistance to returnees for several years now. In September,
Baghdad announced that it was setting aside $50 million to help refugees coming back from Syria. It said it would give around $4,000 to each family that
returned. The problem is that the notorious bureaucracy has often slowed up
these payments, and the recent increase will only make that situation worse.
Second, a UNHCR spokesman said that most of these people are coming back with
little in terms of possessions and money. They are returning to a country
where prices are rising, housing is in limited supply, and services are
bad. Not only that, but there have been reports that the government has set up a holding area in Abu Ghraib to interrogate people heading for Baghdad. Supposedly, it is under the control of the Baghdad Operations Command, and it
is checking people for Baathist ties. This is causing some trepidation amongst refugees still in Syria as a parliamentarian reported that they were afraid of being interrogated by the authorities if they went back. When looking at
all the possible obstacles that might be in front of them, the questioning
seems to be the least of their worries. Many refugees have said that it was
easy to find work and accommodation in Syria. They have now lost that due to
the rising violence there, and are going to be living in an Iraq where both of
those necessities are scarce. That means they may well end up living with and
off of family and friends for quite some time, and find a hard time adjusting.
Since 2011, there have been a large number of refugees
making it back to Iraq. This was before the conflict in Syria even started. Now
the fighting there is giving an added incentive to people to return. This will
likely lead to added pressure upon the government that seems unable to deal
with the increase. More importantly, many of these returnees seem to be heading
towards a long period of struggle trying to find housing and employment, and
dealing with the general high cost of living in Iraq compared to Syria. Their
new life in Iraq therefore, may not be all that they were hoping for.
SOURCES
Agence France Presse, “Iraqis back from Syria face obstacles
at all turns,” 7/25/12
Alsumaria News, “Iraqi government going flights between
Mosul and Aleppo and Latakia Alsorretan to transport Iraqis,” 7/24/12
IRIN, “IRAQ: Returnees from Syria – a “humanitarian crisis”
in the making,” 7/27/12
Mohammed, Fryad, “20,000 Iraqis return home from Syria,” AK
News, 8/4/12
Msarbat, Anwar, “Baghdad and Anbar register return of 10,000
Iraqis from Syria,” AK News, 7/22/12
Sami, Zeena, “$50 million for Iraqi refugees fleeing Syria,”
Azzaman, 9/3/12
- “Iraqi exiles in Syria fear for their lives but are afraid
to return home,” Azzaman, 9/22/12
Shafaq News, “Dozens of Iraqis returning from Syria to
Baghdad detained in search of “Senior Baathists,”” 7/21/12
UNHCR Iraq Operation, “Monthly Statistical Update on Return
– July 2012,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, August 2012
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