Iraqis in Lebanon

Last updated
Iraqis in Lebanon
Total population
50,000 [1]
1.25 — 2.5% of the total population
Regions with significant populations
Beirut, Roumieh, Baalbeck, Beqaa, Nabatiyeh, Baabda, Aley, Matn, Tyre, Sidon, Hermel, Zahlé, Bint Jbeil, Chouf, Byblos, Tripoli, Koura [2] [3]
Languages
Mesopotamian, Kurdish, Neo-Aramaic (incl. Mandaic), Turkmen
Religion
Predominantly Islam; Christianity (Syriac Christianity, Catholicism).
Related ethnic groups
Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Azeris, Iranians, Lebanese, Mizrahim, Turks

Iraqis in Lebanon are people of Iraqi origin residing in Lebanon and Lebanese citizens of Iraqi ancestry. Statistics for Iraqi refugees in Lebanon vary, but typically put the number at around 50,000. [2] [4]

Contents

History

Iraqis have been present in Lebanon for decades. However, the first real influx of a large number of Iraqis to Lebanon started in earnest in the 1990s, with Iraqis fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime as well as the hardships of international sanctions. Most of the Iraqis during this period were Shia, fleeing Saddam's regime, or Christians, seeking exile in an Arab country with a significant local Christian population. [5] [6] Human Rights Watch puts the pre-2003 number of Iraqis in Lebanon at about 10,000. [7]

Recent migration

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the first wave of Iraqi refugees fleeing the war began. By the middle of 2005, the number of Iraqis in Lebanon had doubled from the pre-Iraq War figure to 20,000. [8] This number more than doubled with the second wave of Iraqi refugees fleeing the country after the February 2006 bombing of al-Askari Mosque in Samarra. By 2007 the numbers of Iraqis in Lebanon increases to between 26,000 and 100,000, but usually set at 50,000 by international agencies. [2] Reliable and irrefutable statistics are difficult to come by with the majority of refugees in legal limbo. [2] [5] Variations in statistics as well as many of the issues that Iraqi refugees in Lebanon face are also linked to the 'invisible' nature of urban refugees. [5]

Of the 8,090 Iraqi refugees actively registered with the UNHCR in Lebanon, over half have arrived since 2009. Of the same group of refugees, most are either Christians (42.0%) or Shia Muslims (39.2%) with a minority of Sunni Muslims (15.6%) and other sects or religions, including Mandeans and Yezidis (less than 1%, each). [9] Most Iraqis in Lebanon are from Baghdad, having entered the country via Syria.

As a direct result of the instability and violence that followed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the number of Iraqis in the country changed. Statistics for Iraqi refugees in Lebanon vary, as 2007, the number was around 50,000. [2] As of 2007, statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees put the current number of Iraqi refugees at just under 30,000. [10]

Lebanon is not a signatory of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, nor the 1967 Protocol, leaving the 1962 law regarding the entry and stay of foreigners as the legal status determinant. [5] 71 per cent of Iraqis surveyed in 2007 by the Danish Refugee Council had illegal status, and 95 per cent of respondents reached Lebanon by being smuggled across the Syrian-Lebanese border. [2]

Education and health care

Since Iraqis rely on children as a source of income, impacting the enrollment levels for boys and girls. Other factors, including cost, lack of documentation as well as language difficulties from dialectal differences impact education for this population in general. [2] [5] Attendance rates in school amongst youths of the ages six to seventeen, range at around 58%, in which female enrollment is much higher at 63.7 percent, in comparison with 54.3 percent being males. [2]

Repatriation and resettlement

Many Iraqis chose to take refuge in Lebanon because of the notion that it was easier to get registered for resettlement in a third country with the UNHCR in Beirut. [7] While the Lebanese government has not granted legal status to most Iraqi refugees, keeping them subject to detention and incarceration, it has granted short periods of amnesty for Iraqis who have overstayed their visas in the past. [11]

Palestinian Iraqis

Another issue facing Iraqis are those of Palestinian origin who have entered Lebanon illegally and have not registered with the PLO representative office in Lebanon, thus losing access to the UNRWA education and health services. [2]

Lebanese-Iraqi relations

In November 2007, the Iraqi government gave Lebanon $2 million to 'soothe the burden' of Iraqi refugees for Lebanon. [12]

Demographics

Amongst the adult population, 44 percent are single while 52 percent are married, in which a higher proportion of adult women are married whereas the men are single. [2]

Religious and ethnic affiliation

A survey recently released information that Muslim Shia are by far the majority of Iraqis in Lebanon at 51 percent, followed by Assyrian Chaldean Catholics which stand at 19 percent, while Sunni Muslims only amount to 12 percent of the population. [2]

Notable Iraqi-Lebanese figures

See also

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Lebanon</span> Aspect of human geography in Lebanon

This is a demography of the population of Lebanon including population density, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Syria</span>

Syria's estimated pre–Syrian Civil War 2011 population was 22 ±.5 million permanent inhabitants, which included 21,124,000 Syrians, as well as 1.3 million Iraqi refugees and over 500,000 Palestinian refugees. The war makes an accurate count of the Syrian population difficult, as the numbers of Syrian refugees, internally displaced Syrians and casualty numbers are in flux. The CIA World Factbook showed an estimated 20.4m people as of July 2021. Of the pre-war population, six million are refugees outside the country, seven million are internally displaced, three million live in rebel-held territory, and two million live in the Kurdish-ruled Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–1949 Palestine war and the Six-Day War. Most Palestinian refugees live in or near 68 Palestinian refugee camps across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In 2019 more than 5.6 million Palestinian refugees were registered with the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian emigration</span>

The phenomenon of large-scale migration of Christians is the main reason why Christians' share of the population has been declining in many countries. Many Muslim countries have witnessed disproportionately high emigration rates among their Christian minorities for several generations. Today, most Middle Eastern people in the United States are Christians, and the majority of Arabs living outside the Arab World are Arab Christians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac diaspora</span> Assyrians living outside their ancestral homeland

The Assyrian diaspora refers to ethnic Assyrians living in communities outside their ancestral homeland. The Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrians claim descent from the ancient Assyrians and are one of the few ancient Semitic ethnicities in the Near East who resisted Arabization, Turkification, Persianization and Islamization during and after the Muslim conquest of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Refugees of Iraq</span>

Refugees of Iraq are Iraqi nationals who have fled Iraq due to war or persecution. Throughout 1980 until 2017, there were a large number of refugees fleeing Iraq and settling throughout the world, peaking with the Iraq War and continued until the end of the most recent War in Iraq (2013–2017). Precipitated by a series of conflicts including the Kurdish rebellions during the Iran–Iraq War, Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait (1990) and the Gulf War (1991), the subsequent sanctions against Iraq (1991–2003), culminating in the Iraq War and the subsequent War in Iraq (2013–2017), millions were forced by insecurity to flee their homes in Iraq. Like the majority of refugees worldwide, Iraqi refugees established themselves in urban areas in other countries rather than in refugee camps. In April 2007, there was an estimate of over four million Iraqi refugees around the world, including 1.9 million in Iraq, 2 million in neighboring Middle East countries, and around 200,000 in countries outside the Middle East. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has led the humanitarian efforts for Iraqi refugees. The Iraqi displacement of several million was the largest in the Middle East at the time, and was even larger than the number of Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 during the creation of the state of Israel.

The number of Iraqis in Greece is unclear since numbers fluctuate greatly over time. as of 2007, Greece hosted 1,400 Iraqi refugees. Proving helpful, Greece offered one million dollars to Iraq for humanitarian purposes, this may be because they do not want to take in any refugees, as it was reported that Iraqis trying to enter Greece from Turkey are most definitely likely to be sent back to Iraq. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has confirmed that a group of 135 Iraqis were arrested while preparing to cross into Greece have been sent back to Iraq. As Greece has the toughest migration policy in Europe, allowing only less than one percent of applications through.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iraqi diaspora</span>

The Iraqi diaspora refers to native Iraqis who have left for other countries as emigrants or refugees, and is now one of the largest in modern times, being described by the UN as a "humanitarian crisis" caused by the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion of Iraq and by the ensuing war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinians in Iraq</span> Palestinians residing in Iraq

Palestinians in Iraq are people of Palestinians, most of whom have been residing in Iraq after they were displaced in 1948. Before 2003, there were approximately 34,000 Palestinians thought to be living in Iraq, mainly concentrated in Baghdad. However, since the 2003 Iraq War, the figure lies between 10,000–13,000, although a precise figure has been hard to determine. The situation of Palestinians in Iraq deteriorated after the fall of Saddam Hussein and particularly following the bombing of the Al-Askari Mosque in 2006. Since then, with the rise in insecurity throughout Iraq, they have been the target of expulsion, persecution and violence by Shia militants, and the new Iraqi Government with militant groups targeting them for preferential treatment they received under the Ba'ath Party rule. Currently, several hundred Palestinians from Iraq are living in border camps, after being refused entry to neighbouring Jordan and Syria. Others have been resettled to third countries.

Since the late 1970s until the present, Iraq has witnessed numerous waves of refugees and emigrants due to significant events in its modern history. These events have led to the displacement of millions of Iraqis. These include over three decades of repression, periodic violent attacks, and massacres targeting the Kurdish population in the north and the Shi'a in the south, all carried out by Saddam Hussein's regime. Other factors include the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), the Gulf War of 1991, the prolonged economic sanctions until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Religion in Syria refers to the range of religions practiced by the citizens of Syria. Historically, the region has been a mosaic of diverse faiths with a range of different sects within each of these religious communities.

The Iraq War resulted in multiple humanitarian crises.

Iraqis in Turkey includes Turkish citizens of Iraqi origin, Iraqi-born citizens and Iraqi expat workers.

Refugees of the Syrian civil war are citizens and permanent residents of Syria who have fled the country throughout the Syrian civil war. The pre-war population of the Syrian Arab Republic was estimated at 22 million (2017), including permanent residents. Of that number, the United Nations (UN) identified 13.5 million (2016) as displaced persons, requiring humanitarian assistance. Of these, since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011 more than six million (2016) were internally displaced, and around five million (2016) had crossed into other countries, seeking asylum or placed in Syrian refugee camps worldwide. It is often described as one of the largest refugee crises in history.

The problem of Kurdish refugees and displaced people arose in the 20th century in the Middle East, and continues today. The Kurds, are an ethnic group in Western Asia, mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Middle Eastern people in Metro Detroit</span> Aspect of history

In 2004, Metro Detroit had one of the largest settlements of Middle Eastern people, including Arabs and Chaldo-Assyrians in the United States. As of 2007 about 300,000 people in Southeast Michigan traced their descent from the Middle East. Dearborn's sizeable Arab community consists largely of Lebanese people who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, and of more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. In 2010 the four Metro Detroit counties had at least 200,000 people of Middle Eastern origin. Bobby Ghosh of TIME said that some estimates gave much larger numbers. From 1990 to 2000 the percentage of people speaking Arabic in the home increased by 106% in Wayne County, 99.5% in Macomb County, and 41% in Oakland County.

Syrians in Lebanon refers to the Syrian migrant workers and, more recently, to the Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon during the Syrian Civil War. The relationship between Lebanon and Syria includes Maronite-requested aid during Lebanon's Civil War which led to a 29-year occupation of Lebanon by Syria ending in 2005. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, refugees began entering Lebanon in 2011. Lebanon's response towards the influx of refugees has been criticized as negative, with the Lebanese government leaving them undocumented and limited and attacks on Syrian refugees by Lebanese citizens which go unaddressed by authorities. Despite the strained relationship between the Syrians and Lebanese, taking into consideration only Syrian refugees, Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, with one refugee per four nationals. The power dynamic and position of Syria and Lebanon changed drastically in such a short amount of time, it is inevitable that sentiments and prejudices prevailed despite progressions and changes in circumstance.

A refugee crisis can refer to difficulties and dangerous situations in the reception of large groups of forcibly displaced persons. These could be either internally displaced, refugees, asylum seekers or any other huge groups of migrants.

A stateless person is, according to article 1 of the New York Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons of 28 September 1954, "any person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law".

During the occupation of Iraq, Palestinians who lived in the country became the targets of violence, killings and scapegoating by Shia militant groups.

References

  1. ↑ "Lebanon".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Danish Refugee Council (November 2007). "Iraqi Population Survey in Lebanon". Danish Refugee Council. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "Iraqi Refugee Problem". iht.com. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  4. ↑ "العراقيون في لبنان.. لاجئون منسيون بانتظار "إعادة التوطين"". مهاجر نيوز (in Arabic). 2021-01-06. Retrieved 2022-05-11.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Sassoon, Joseph (2011). The Iraqi Refugees: The New Crisis in the Middle East. New York: I. B. Tauris. ISBN   978-1-84885-697-4.
  6. ↑ Trad, Samira; Ghida Frangieh (2007). "Iraqi refugees in Lebanon: continuous lack of protection". Forced Migration Review (Special Issue: Iraq’s displacement crisis). ISSN   1460-9819.
  7. 1 2 Human Rights Watch (November 2007). "Rot Here or Die There: Bleak Choices for Iraqi Refugees in Lebanon". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  8. ↑ Danish Refugee Council (July 2005). "Iraqi population in Lebanon" (PDF). Survey Report, Beirut. Danish Refugee Council. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  9. ↑ UNHCR Lebanon (30 November 2010). "Statistical Report on UNHCR Registered Iraqis" (PDF). UNHCR. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  10. ↑ UNHCR. "2011 UNHCR country operations profile - Lebanon". UNHCR. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  11. ↑ UNHCR (20 February 2008). "UNHCR welcomes Lebanon's recognition of Iraqi refugees" . Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  12. ↑ "Iraq grants Lebanon $2 million to ease refugee burden". The Daily Star. Beirut, Lebanon. NewsBank. 21 November 2007. p. 5. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  13. ↑ Haven Books: Suzan Alaiwan Archived 2009-06-10 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Modern Arabic literature, Volume 2006, Part 2
  15. ↑ "Samer Bazzi – The Lebanese Armageddon in the New Iraq". Archived from the original on 2009-08-29. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  16. ↑ Nahal:activist
  17. ↑ "~~~The San Clemente Journal ~~~". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
  18. ↑ Arab-Muslim Voices for Justice in Sudan
  19. ↑ "Nissan Exec Honored as Latin-American Executive of the Year". Reuters. 2008-01-17. Archived from the original on September 10, 2012.
  20. ↑ Member spotlight archive
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.