Surviving in the City: A Review of UNHCR's Operation for Iraqi Refugees in Urban Areas of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria

In recent years, large numbers of Iraqi citizens have left their country, escaping the violence and turmoil afflicting their homeland. Many have taken up residence in urban centres of neighbouring and nearby states, including Amman (Jordan), Beirut (Lebanon), Aleppo and Damascus (Syria).

While UNHCR’s task in responding to this situation has been facilitated by the generous admission policies of those three countries, the organization had not planned for this scenario and was unfamiliar with the challenge of dealing with such large populations of urban refugees.

The task was also complicated by a number of additional factors, including its limited presence and standing in the Middle East, the absence of refugee laws and institutions in the countries of asylum, as well as their overriding preoccupation with other issues, including the Palestinian refugee question, national security and regional geopolitics.

Despite these difficult circumstances, the UNHCR operation for Iraqi refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria has many achievements to its credit. Taking advantage of US and international interest in the Iraqi situation, the organization mobilized substantial resources, rapidly scaled up its activities, deployed high-quality teams to the field and addressed the specifically urban characteristics of the operation in an innovative and flexible manner.

Particular successes have been recorded in a number of the areas examined in this review: the establishment of efficient registration and reception systems; the introduction of effective community outreach and communications mechanisms; the use of new technologies in the distribution of assistance to refugees; and the formulation of creative external relations and public information opportunities.

As a result of these activities, as well as the administration of a large refugee resettlement programme and the provision of extensive support to national structures that provide services to refugees, the protection space available to Iraqi refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria has expanded considerably.

But the situation remains a fragile one. First, the expansion of protection space has been based largely on understandings and agreements between UNHCR and the authorities which are yet to be institutionalized and which might be reversed ifnegative developments were to take place in the political, economic or security environments.

Second, the majority of Iraqis do not have any immediate prospect of finding a solution to their plight. Most of them consider that current conditions in Iraq prevent them from repatriating, while a significant number state that they have no intention of returning there under any circumstances.

Only a limited number of the refugees can expect to be accepted for resettlement, and yet those who remain in the three countries of asylum have almost no prospect of local integration or gaining secure residency rights, both of which have been effectively ruled out by the authorities.

A final concern derives from the very real prospect that the funding available to UNHCR and its partners will decline in the months and years to come. The question now looming over the operation is whether it will be possible to maintain the protection space that has been established in recent years if there are inadequate resources available to assist the refugees and to support the services on which they rely.