A Sad New Record for Iraq

According to an UNHCR report, published March 24 2009, Iraqi refugees are heading the list of asylum applications worldwide for 2008: “For the third consecutive year, Iraq was the leading country of origin. The number of Iraqi claims is almost twice as high as those submitted by Somali asylum-seekers, the second most important source country. Other important source countries are the Russian Federation, Afghanistan, China, and Serbia.

Iraqis lodged some 40,500 new asylum claims during the year, or roughly every tenth application in the industrialized world. This figure is a 10 per cent decrease compared to 2007 (45,100 claims). The 2007 and 2008 levels are still below the ones witnessed between 2000 and 2002 when, on average, 50,000 Iraqis sought international protection in the industrialized world.” (http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/STATISTICS/49c796572.pdf)

It proves that it is not an overstatement to say that the sanctions, the invasion and the occupation of Iraq constitute one of the largest humanitarian disasters of our time. And yet the press does not recognize it as such and world public opinion is unaware of it. And this in spite of the many shocking reports (like the recent Oxfam report on the situation of Women). One can consider this fact as nothing less than a form of collective negationism. We have to break the silence!


Lieven De Cauter

philosopher/writer
Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Kuleuven
Mediaschool Rits, Brussels
Berlage Institute, Rotterdam
BRussells Tribunal

www.brusselstribunal.org