VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0186/01 0700836
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110836Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6090
INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 7546
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5723
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 1016
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 3849
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 0383

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