Iraqi Refugees

Iraq is a country of southwestern Asia, the middle east. Iraq gained its independence in 1932 but still remained subject to the British empire. Iraq was able to overthrow the monarchy in 1958. It was later found that Iraq had large amounts of oil reserves coming in second in the world. These discoveries were able to help with financial assistance on new buildings and remodeling. Iraq would then suffer from two major wars, Iran-Iraq War and Persian Gulf War. The country was affected financially and socially affected due to that now it was harder to make trade and connections with other. But in 2003 they would be once again into another conflict, Iraq War. Iraq's capital is located at Baghdad. Its official religion is Islam and has a population of about 38,893,000.

History of Region and Reason for Crisis

The Iraq War is the most recent war that has occured in Iraq. The war started in 2003 and would end in 2011 but to this day there are still some remains of it. The war consisted of the United States and British forces against Iraqi military. War was declared by the US after the attacks of September 11. This occurred due to that there were suspicions Iraq was still making weapons of mass destruction, which they were prohibited to do so after the Persian Gulf War. The war was against a terrorist group al-Qaeda. They began by ending a diplomacy between both countries the president was even given a chance to leave the country, but he refused to do so. Due to his refusal the US and other allied forces attacked on March 20. Majority of the battles were taken in Iraqi territory meaning that its peoples lives were put at risk. The total number of casualties was at about 650,000. The war left a large trace of violence and it was difficult for the country to retrieve its order and common life. Iraq was actually declared as one of the most dangerous places for children. The Iraq War actually left a trace of new terrorist groups such as ISIS and they were using people but most importantly children for their in country wars. The wars that were being brought up were due to peoples difference in religions.

Financial Impact

The ongoing warfare leaves a lot of casualties and economic struggles. Iraq suffered with refugees and reconstruction process. There were large amounts of people that fled, At the end of 2015, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that over 4.4 million Iraqis were internally displaced, and an additional 264,100 were refugees abroad (Watson Institute: Iraqi Refugees n.p.). The large amounts of people that fled away cost the country money due to that they needed to place them and provide for them a place for them to settle. Iraq lost lots of influential people, they were the first to flee. Their doctors fled leaving them with small amounts of doctors amounts that couldn't support and attend the large population, The war has brought increased rates of illness and disease to Iraq, while displacing the very medical professionals who could have treated the sick (Watson Institute: Iraqi Refugees n.p). The small amount of doctors couldn't treat much meaning that many casualties and losses occurred. The loss of people meant the country had to supply the people with care and they had to also supply with sanitation. The country had to provide shelter, clean, water, and medical services. The help was at large amounts but it didn't help everyone. Some people didn't have that access but to provide that access it meant more money would have to be spent.

Humanitarian Impact

As of 2011 the violence level has decreased but still hasn't yet disappeared. Minorities is the main population whose life is at risk. The government still hasn't provided with much support or protection from terrorist attacks. The main focus of attack are people of religion. This is due to religion differences. There are a total of two million refugees fleeing the country and about 1.7 million internally displaced.

Cite this page