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March 29, 2007:
In Congress, PEN Presses for Action on Iraqi Refugees |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact: Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660, ext. 105, lsiems@pen.org
New York, NY, March 29, 2007—In
testimony presented to Congress this week, journalist and PEN Trustee
George Packer urged the U.S. government to clarify and streamline the
process for resettling Iraqis targeted for death for perceived
“collaboration” with American and western organizations, among them
more than a dozen writers and translators PEN is currently working to
rescue from hiding in Syria and Iraq.
Noting that the war in Iraq has produced one of the world’s gravest
refugee crises, with almost four million Iraqis displaced internally
and in neighboring countries, Packer testified in particular about the
plight of Iraqs “who welcomed the overthrow of the Saddam regime and
shared our vision for Iraq’s future to the extent they were willing to
risk their lives for it every day” and “who now feel abandoned.”
“In the past few months, under rising congressional and media pressure,
there has been some action,” Packer told the House Foreign Affairs
Committees Sub-Committee on Middle East and South Asia. “A State
Department task force has been formed, with talk of admitting seven
thousand Iraqis after they are processed by the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees. But until now, there is still no clear,
expeditious, and safe route to the U.S. available to these most
vulnerable Iraqis. And for many of them, time is running out.”
Packer’s statement drew on extensive interviews he conducted in Iraq, Jordan, and Syria for a recent New Yorker article
and on PEN’s experiences in responding to pleas for help from
threatened Iraqi writers and translators, and it recounted the
difficulties PEN has encountered in its efforts to bring these writers
and translators to safety:
“PEN American Center has been working to resettle Iraqi writers and
translators targeted for death since September 2005, when in received a
desperate appeal for help from a group of seven translators from the
Mosul area. All of them had received clear, explicit death threats, and
most had either survived lethal attacks themselves or had close family
member killed in their place. Within a year, two from that original
group had been assassinated. Since then, as its case list has grown,
PEN has managed to find refuge for seven writers and translators and
their families in Europe, mostly in Norway.
“It has also been pursuing the much more difficult goal of helping some
of those on its list reach the U.S. For one group that has been living
in hiding in Syria, there has been some progress: last month five were
screened by the office of the UNHCR in Damascus and have been referred
to the United States for possible resettlement. Now they are waiting
for the opportunity to interview with U.S. officials. While they wait,
like all Iraqis in Syria they are barred from holding work permits, and
several have exhausted their limited financial means. So far, they have
received no information on when U.S. interviewers will be in Damascus.
“PEN is also working on the cases of several men and women who are
essentially trapped inside Iraq, unable to flee the country for lack of
resources or for fear they will be killed if they attempt to move. The
list includes former translators for Coalition forces and media
outlets, two of whom were wounded in attacks, and a teacher and writer
targeted for writing articles denouncing terrorism in Iraq. With no
avenue available for those still in Iraq to apply for refugee status or
seek resettlement, they are waiting, too, for any indication that a
system exists where they can present and plead their cases.”
Packer closed by urging Congress to press the administration to create
a system for reviewing asylum requests inside Iraq and to expedite
reviews and processing of refugees in neighboring countries. “It is a
matter of national honor,” he insisted. “If we do less, history will
find moral shame in all of us.”
Related articles
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| Lost After Translation: Voices from Iraq |
| November 20, 2006 | Waddah Ali | Fear of Freedom |
| November 20, 2006 | Omar Ghanim Fathi | Republic of Dreams |
| November 20, 2006 | Basim Mardan | Lost After Translation |
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