DAMASCUS, Syria (CNS): A Chaldean bishop in Syria says many Iraqi refugees there want to resettle in Australia rather than return to danger in their homeland.
Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, who has become an outspoken defender of the refugees, said that even if fighting were to cease in Iraq, only 15 per cent of the refugees would want to return home.
A few would try to stay in Syria, he said, but the rest wanted to be resettled in Europe, North America or Australia.
Church officials and others who work with the exiles in the Middle East said refugees from Iraq were not going home any time soon, despite Iraqi Government enticements.
“Especially for the Christian refugees, it simply isn’t safe to go back home now.
“There’s no one to protect them, and so they are afraid to go back,” Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Absi of Damascus, a Melkite Catholic, said.
Iraqi embassies throughout the Middle East have launched a campaign to lure refugees back home, promising economic assistance and help recovering homes and other properties lost in the country’s violence and chaos.
“Although the situation isn’t perfect in Iraq, life isn’t exactly perfect for the refugees here in Syria.
“Their resources have run out and their options are limited. It’s time to go home,” said an official in the Iraqi Embassy in Damascus who asked not to be named.
Yet United Nations officials say the enticements have yielded relatively few takers.
“The refugees are well-informed about the situation back home. They get news every day from relatives who text them or call them.
“They know what’s going on, and there aren’t many who want to go back,” deputy representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria Philippe Leclerc said.
Yet as their savings continue to dwindle, the refugees face even harder choices. They are not allowed to work, but many nonetheless labour in the informal economy.
That can be risky. Syrian authorities’ August arrest of 24 Iraqis for working without permits sent a chill through the refugee community and pushed many to rethink their future.
