Iraqis and the Occupation

Iraqi Refugees: Basic Facts

25/6/2003

“Not one day has passed when we felt like human beings, because human beings have rights.”

– Iraqi refugee at Rafha camp. (Source: Amnesty International)

Wars, 12 years of deadly sanctions, along with Saddam’s brutality against the Iraqi people, forced the Iraqis to seek refuge abroad, thus scattering the Iraqi population around the globe. Iraq is one of the largest source countries for refugees in the world. Around two million Iraqis are living in exile, for either humanitarian or political reasons; moreover, an estimate of 300,000-1,000,000 Iraqis are displaced inside Iraq – massive displacement inside Iraq has occurred in the aftermath of the US-led war on Iraq.

The largest destination country for Iraqi refugees is Iran. Iran’s Iraqi refugees live mostly in the west of the country. The eruption of the 2003 US/UK War on Iraq caused 30,000 Iraqi refugees to gather near the Iranian border. Already 200,000 Iraqis have fled to Iran since 1975. However, Tehran now believes that with the fall of Saddam’s regime Iraqis in Iran have technically lost their refugee status.

In addition to Iran, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, US, Denmark and the UK are countries that receive large numbers of Iraqi refugees.

Iraqi Refugees Populations (Source: UNHCR)

		Act now to help Iraqi refugees.
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 Useful Links:

• International Conference on Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Act now to help Iraqi refugees:

You can donate to Iraqi refugees through one of the following organizations:

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR)

• US Committee for Refugees (USCR)

• Oxfam America  

• American Refugee Committee   

• All About Giving  

The articles posted on this page reflect solely the opinions of the authors.