Blog Posts by Elizabeth Campbell

Next month the United States will have completed the withdrawal of half of its combat troops, bringing the number down to 50,000. According to the Status of Forces Agreement, the remaining troops should leave by the end of 2011. Most Americans have long since turned their attention away from Iraq, but as Patrick Cockburn in The Independent recently wrote, “American troops leave behind a country that is a barely floating wreck.”

Tens of thousands of Somali refugees have sought asylum in Nairobi, Kenya.  For almost two decades, many of these refugees have been successful entrepreneurs, building businesses that not only provide a living for their families but also sometimes employ members from the local Kenyan community.  Far from being passive recipients of international humanitarian aid, many Somalis have been able to turn crumbling urban environments into centers of economic activity.  Nowhere is this more evident than in Eastleigh or “Little Mogadishu,” a low-income commercial center just outside of Nairobi. 

Last month the Government of Tanzania announced it would grant citizenship to 162,000 refugees, completing a naturalization process that began two years ago. Up to 500,000 Burundian refugees sought asylum in Tanzania following the 1972 civil war. The local integration of some of these refugees helped to address one of the world's most protracted refugee situations.

Thirty years ago, in April 1980, between 220,000 and 300,000 Iraqi Faili Kurds were stripped of their Iraqi citizenship. Many were expelled from their homes and were forced to march across the Iranian border into decades of exile and statelessness. Others became non-citizens in their own country. Though important steps have been taken by the Government of Iraq to restore the citizenship of these people, it is estimated that roughly 100,000 still lack a nationality.

There is no doubt that thousands of Haitians are suffering from an enormous disaster that warrants a strong international humanitarian response. Refugees International supports the relief efforts underway, as it’s clear that immediate humanitarian assistance is critical.  In the coming weeks and months we hope the crisis will stabilize, allowing for longer-term thinking about reconstruction and development. As Haiti moves away from this tragic event toward a brighter future, countries and aid groups must remain engaged and committed. Anything less may result in a protracted or chronic humanitarian crisis for the people of Haiti. 

The international community’s new preferred narrative about Iraq is that the violence has been greatly reduced; the U.S. is drawing down its military; the humanitarian situation has stabilized; and now it is up to the Iraqi Government, assisted by UN development actors, to rebuild the country.

Iraq’s vice-president has vetoed part of the country’s new election law, placing the planned elections for January in jeopardy because he objected to the lack of parliamentary representation of refugees.  This bold step should remind the international community that, as most attention and resources have shifted east to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Iraq’s refugees have not disappeared.  As the delay of this critical law shows, it is clear that Iraq’s domestic politics are intricately tied to the refugee question.