Human Rights First Staff

Living in Limbo: Iraqi Refugees and U.s. Resettlement Human Rights First Staff

As ?Living in Limbo? attests, thousands of Iraqi refugees ? including Iraqi Christians and other religious and sexual minorities, as well as U. S.-affilitated Iraqis ? are living in limbo in the Middle East region, struggling to survive outside of Iraq without the right to work, put their children in school, or get heath care. As violence and instability persist in Iraq, resettlement to other countries ? including the United States ? remains the only effective path for many of these refugees, including those who have faced persecution in Iraq because of their work with the United States. While the United States has stepped up its response to Iraqi displacement over the last few years serious reforms are needed in the U. S. resettlement program to remove unnecessary processing delays which now leave many Iraqi refugees and U. S.-affiliated Iraqis vulnerable and stranded in difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.