Iraq: The World's Fastest Growing Refugee Crisis

The UN estimates that nearly 2 million Iraqis have been displaced byviolence in their country and fled to surrounding countries, the vastmajority of which have fled since 2003. Some 1.9 million have vacatedtheir homes for safer areas within Iraq, 900,000 of which have fledsince 2003. Iraqi refugees are now living in Syria, Jordan, Iran, Egypt,Lebanon, Yemen, and Turkey. Most Iraqis are determined to be resettledto Europe or North America, and few consider return to Iraq an option.With no legal work options in their current host countries, Iraqis arealready exploring the use of false documents to migrate to Westernnations (Refugees International, 10 May 2007).