SUBJECT: CODEL CARDIN HEARS FROM DISGRUNTLED

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000186

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/I, PRM/ANE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL SY IZ
SUBJECT: SUBJECT: CODEL CARDIN HEARS FROM DISGRUNTLED

REFUGEES


1. (SBU) Summary: CODEL Cardin received briefings from the
Damascus office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) February 28 and heard there are currently 225,000
Iraqis registered with UNHCR. More than half of these, UNHCR
estimates, are not considering returning within the near
future. Additionally, DHS, State and IOM briefed the CODEL
on the admissions process and reported that their unified
efforts were likely to result in the resettlement of nearly
12,000 Iraqis from Syria to the United States in FY 09.
Finally, five outreach volunteers from the Iraqi refugee
community who addressed the delegation, claimed they had been
middle class before being forced from Iraq and were now
facing extremely difficult conditions even with international
community assistance. End summary.


2. (SBU) Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD),Chairman of the
Congressional Helsinki Commission, was joined by Senate
colleagues Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI),Ryan Wicker (R-MS),
Thomas Udall (D-NM) and Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI),and
Representative Mike McIntyre (D-NC). They and several
professional staff members met UNHCR deputy Representative
for Syria Philippe LeClerc who briefed on UNHCR's work to
assist Iraqi refugees throughout the country. According to
LeClerc, there are now 225,000 Iraqi refugees actively
registered (those not resettled or known to have returned to
Iraq) with UNHCR Damascus. Of these, 29,000 refugees who
were eligible for food assistance failed to pick up their
assistance packages over the last four months. LeClerc
suggested some Iraqis may have found other means of support,
but UNHCR believes most of these have left the country.
LeClerc reported the Iraqi refugees include relatively very
few unaccompanied minors, fewer even than among Bosnians
displaced in the 1990s. He believed fewer than half those
currently registered with UNHCR had plans to return to Iraq
in the near future.

CONTINUING PROGRESS ON RESETTLEMENT
--------------


3. (SBU) On hand to brief the CODEL on the admission process
were International Organization for Migration (IOM)'s Chief
of Mission Maria Rumman, PRM Regional Refugee Coordinator for
Resettlement, and Department of Homeland Security's refugee
interview "circiut-rideing" team leader, Frank Minnick. The
resettlement experts detailed the progress the their
respective organizations were making in meeting Congressional
targets for the resettlement of Iraqi refugees to the United
States. They reported nearly 5,000 Iraqi refugees were
resettled to the U.S. during fiscal year '08, and IOM and DHS
were on pace to resettle nearly 12,000 from Syria in fiscal
year '09, making a sizable dent in the 17,000 resettlement
target prescribed by Congress for this fiscal year. Rumman
reported that all the organizations involved in the
resettlement process (UNHCR, IOM, State and DHS) were working
in concert to meet set targets. The DHS team leader noted
the high acceptance rate of Iraqi refugees cases processed
through his team, this suggested many of these individuals
had a verifiable and well founded fear of persecution if they
returned to Iraq. The resettlement team outlined how the
resettlement process works and fielded questions from the
CODEL including specific concerns regarding the length of
time it takes an refugee applicant to finally reach the
United States.

OUTREACH ACTIVISTS REPORT ON REFUGEE PROBLEMS
--------------


4. (SBU) Five refugee women, representing 65 volunteers that
help their community as outreach to the most
vulnerable, briefed the delegation on health issues,
children, women at risk, and problems of young men.
One volunteer noted that women in Iraq had suffered a great
deal even before the war, but the group as a whole complained
sometimes bitterly about current circumstances.


5. (SBU) In reviewing a litany of hardships facing Iraqi
refugees in Syria the outreach workers highlighted the
challenges of dealing with chronic illnesses like cancer and
children with disabilities. They claimed a high rate of
infertility had resulted from weaponry of the coalition
forces. Allowances received from the International Community
through UNHCR were much too small for families - they
mentioned 5000 Syrian Pounds a month, the equivalent of about
USD 105, in rent subsidy. Women sometimes left their
husbands in order to claim a larger stipend based on existing
allowance criteria. Some parents pushed girls into marriage

at a relatively young age to lessen family financial burdens.
Occasionally, widows or single mothers with children
considered prostitution to feed their families. Young
children who should be in school, even as young as
9-to-11-year olds, were helping to support their families.
These children had no future, the activists said. Those in
school faced psychological challenges the result of war and
displacement.

BLAMING AMERICA
--------------


6. (SBU) A Sunni member of the outreach group noted Iraqis
had been middle class before the war but their
situation had deteriorated drastically. "We hate Americans
because we feel they destroyed Iraqis," said another, who
spoke English to dramatize her point. She had been well off;
the young men she knew had attended university before the
war.


7. (SBU) Turning to complaints about what they had heard
about life after resettlement in the U.S., the group said
some refused U.S. resettlement because "three months" of
support provided by the USG was not enough time to establish
a new life for themselves and their families. Some refugees
incorrectly believed American citizens had received
substantial benefits not available to incoming refugee
families. "We'd rather stay in Syria and be helped by the
Syrian government and the Syrian citizens around us," than
move to the United States, said one of the outreach workers.
Iraqis preferred resettlement in Europe, according to others.



8. (SBU) CODEL members were visibly moved by the
presentation and candid views expressed by the Iraqi outreach
workers. Senator Cardin said that even with the recent
increase in assistance and admissions numbers, he and others
in Congress believed more needed to be done. The visit
offered an excellent opportunity to highlight State and the
Department of Homeland Security's successful efforts in
providing assistance for and in the resettlement of
vulnerable Iraqi refugees as prescribed by Congress.


9. (SBU) Senator Cardin did not have a chance to clear this
report as of March 10.
CONNELLY