IRAQI REFUGEES TURN WORLD REFUGEE DAY CELEBRATION

UNCLAS AMMAN 005090 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR PRM/A AND PRM/ANE, DHS FOR CIS, GENEVA FOR RMA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PREL IZ JO UNHCR SUBJECT: IRAQI REFUGEES TURN WORLD REFUGEE DAY CELEBRATION INTO RESETTLEMENT RALLY ¶1. (U) UNHCR's June 20 World Refugee Day celebration -- titled "A Place to Call Home" -- took an unexpectedly political turn when Iraqi refugees turned a speech and poetry reading into a fiery rejection of voluntary repatriation and an emotional call for resettlement outside the region. UNHCR's celebration began with carefully worded speeches by the Jordan and Iraq Heads of Mission that focused on the High Commissioner's "Four R's" Program: repatriation, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The subtext of both speeches was that, although Iraq remains a troubled place, voluntary repatriation is emerging as the only durable solution for Iraqi refugees and one that UNHCR will promote once security conditions warrant. ¶2. (U) UNHCR's volrep message did not go over well with the 100 or so Iraqi refugees present at the celebration. In remarks following the UNHCR officials' speeches, Iraqi refugee Muslim Al Taan flatly rejected UNHCR's "Four R's." For Iraqi refugees, Al Taan proclaimed, there are four very different R's: resettlement, resettlement, resettlement, resettlement! By name, Al Taan called upon the nine resettlement countries to do their part and accept for resettlement the Iraqi refugees who have been languishing in limbo since September 2001. With an angry plea for "God's justice," Taan cried "Let us live in freedom! No to voluntary repatriation!" Refugees throughout the audience picked up the refrain, jumping to their feet to shout and raise their fists along with Taan. One refugee rushed to the stage and began pounding his head on the floor before being restrained by an official from the cultural center. ¶3. (U) After five emotional minutes of angry protests rocking the cultural center, the refugees quieted down and shifted their attention to a poetry reading that, somewhat ironically, celebrated the beauty and wonder of the very country to which the refugees refuse to return. Uneasy representatives from the UN, GOJ and resettlement countries (including the Canadian ambassador, U.S. refcoord and refugee admissions specialists) took the opportunity to slip out of the event. UNHCR officials later expressed anger at the refugees and community services implementing partner CARE for letting the event spiral out of control, never acknowledging that UNHCR itself should have taken greater responsibility for the celebration. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The refugee day event highlights the growing frustration felt by both Iraqi refugees and UNHCR officials over this caseload's continuing uncertainties. Resettlement countries have kept Iraqis on hold since September 2001, as they reviewed post-9/11 security practices and then changing conditions in Iraq itself. Since the fall of Saddam's regime, deteriorating security conditions have prevented UNHCR from lifting the voluntary protection order or promoting voluntary repatriation to Iraq, while resettlement countries continue to keep their programs on hold. The result is an increasingly angry refugee population that desperately wants to call any place but Iraq home and blames UNHCR for its uncertain future. Decisions from major resettlement countries, including the U.S., regarding the Iraqis already in the pipeline, would help ease these pressures. Iraqis constitute the vast majority of UNHCR's caseload in Jordan; 73 cases remain candidates for the U.S. resettlement program. ¶5. (U) CPA Baghdad minimize considered. GNEHM