EPIC News Release: Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act
The Education for Peace in Iraq Center sent this news release on an important bill that is in danger of languishing in Congress:
"On June 14th, when we began building support for Congressman Blumenauer's Responsibility to Iraqi Refugees Act of 2007 (H.R. 2265), only 14 representatives had signed on. EPIC hand-delivered more than 2,300 constituent letters to Congress, and now the bill has 49 cosponsors -- an increase of 35 as of July 25th.
Iraqis are the third largest displaced population in the world, after Palestinians and Sudanese. Yet despite a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian and protection situation for many of the 4 million displaced Iraqis, the U.S. has only resettled 133 since October 2006. H.R. 2265 would provide support for Iraq and its neighbors to handle the crisis, and special visas for the most at-risk refugees -- particularly those in danger for working closely with American soldiers and NGOs in Iraq.
EPIC's actions are making a difference in Congress, and your help will strengthen our impact. You can check the list of cosponsors for H.R. 2265 here, and if your Representative has not signed on, please visit our Action Center and personalize your letter to Congress today.
Together, we have real power to help millions of innocent Iraqi civilians displaced by violence. But we all must work together to keep the pressure up. For more information about taking the next steps, click here.
Sincerely,
Emily Stivers
Education for Peace in Iraq Center
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The Education for Peace in Iraq Center works to build peace through the advancement of human rights, humanitarian relief and sustainable development that benefits all Iraqis.
Support EPIC online or send your contribution to:
Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC)
1101 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20003
202-543-6176
Labels: Iraq
posted by Juan Cole @ 7/28/2007 12:15:00 AM
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4 Comments:
Care must be taken that "help" does not make the regugee status permanent. The Iraqi regime is trying just that with the Sunnis fleeing to Syria and Jordan (and to a lesser degree Egypt.) The only demand the Kurdish (read Pesh-merga) Foriegn Minister of Iraq made was to settle the refugees who are mainly Arab Sunnis in schools and jobs in those countries.
The Americans created the refugees and they must solve the problem by allowing them go home. They are just now beginning to turn against their evil and violent allies. That must be accelerated, and without trying yet again to promote Iraqi collaborators -- which is how we got here in the first place.
I find it admirable that there is a US Center trying to teach peace and human rights in Iraq. Shouldn't they begun by teaching non aggression, plus the respect of the UN chart and that of the Geneva Conventions in America itself first ?
Irony apart, it's an absolute scandal that with so many displaced/refugees the US is doing so few and it's good to see an NGO lobbying the Congress for more support. Not so recently the UNHCR complained that the US was not doing anything about Iraqi refugees and that the EU countries weren't doing much more, that all the burden was falling on the shoulders of Jordan, Syria and a few other ME countries. It's supposed that there are not many other rich countries willing to come to help and clean the mess the US has created. Personally, I feel split about this issue : on one side, the Iraqi need our help and compassion, but on the other side the attitude of the US is absolutely scandalous; she is the one who pushed toward this war and she should pay the damages she has caused, instead of relying on others to help.
the US Congress is about to approve a $30 Billion aid package for Israel. Why not tie that aid to something that benefits USA ?
How about Israel gets $1 Million for every refugee family it resettles from the camps along the Iraqi border, plus a bonus of 20% if it happens to be a Palestinian family ?
I mean resettlement into Israeli territory, not occupied Palestine.
Let me know when the displaced Iraqis who weren't working with the US military or Western NGOs are more important.
Then I'll sign.
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