Thursday, April 19, 2007

Financial Times Editorial Comment: Iraq's refugees must be saved from disaster

Financial Times Editorial Comment: Iraq's refugees must be saved from disaster
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: April 19 2007 03:00 | Last updated: April 19 2007 03:00


Hard on the heels of the disaster that has befallen Iraq as a result of the US-led invasion four years ago comes the worst refugee crisis in the Middle East since the mass exodus of Palestinians that resulted from the violent birth of the state of Israel in 1948.

As yesterday's huge car-bombings bloodily highlighted, Iraqis are prey to anarchy and sectarian warfare that still claim thousands of lives every month. Despite the occupation's attempts to turn the tide of violence and hand responsibility for security to Iraqis, ethno-sectarian cleansing carried out by Sunni and Shia Muslim insurgents and militias is accelerating. Around 50,000 Iraqis are now fleeing their homes every month, forced out by gunmen or caught in the crossfire, unable to work or send their children to school, or cut off from the most basic amenities such as water and electricity.

Instead of bringing democracy to Iraq and the Arab world, the 2003 invasion has scattered Iraqis throughout the Middle East. Nearly 4m Iraqis have been uprooted by the upheaval - close to one in seven but, on current trends, likely to be one in five by the end of this year. The international response to this catastrophe has been a disgrace.

To begin with, the countries most responsible for this mess - the US and the UK - have done next to nothing to alleviate it. While Iraq's neighbours have been overwhelmed with refugees - in particular Jordan and Syria with a million or more in each case - the US has taken in precisely 466 Iraqis since 2003. Britain's record is no better.

For the second time this year, Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has sounded the alarm, this time after Iraq's neighbours have slammed their doors shut to any further influx, leaving about 1.9m internally displaced -Iraqis at the mercy of sectarian slaughter - unless they have a militia to protect them. At a global meeting on the crisis in Geneva this week, he called for "genuine solidarity and unstinting aid" to head off disaster.

That will not be possible if the US and UK continue to behave as though addressing this problem amounts to admitting failure. American and British officials act as though Iraqis should be grateful for the democracy they have been granted and get on with building their country.

There is no room for debate about this. The occupying countries have the duty to protect the refugees their misguided foreign policies are responsible for creating. They should help Iraq's neighbours cope with their refugees, provide protection as a matter of urgency for displaced Iraqis trapped inside Iraq's borders, and open their own borders until this crisis is over.

All that would cost nothing in comparison to the roughly $280m a day spent on the occupation. The cost to, and moral corrosion of, America's and Britain's reputation if they do not act is not measurable.

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