Iraq Refugees, Women's Rights and Security critical to returns

Assistance centers and outreach services to reach women to enable them to deal with pressing health, legal and social issues. In the KRG, UNHCR is developing NGO-staffed Protection and Assistance Centers with GBV programs. These programs help women overcome their isolation and encourage the formation of self-help groups, while providing legal assistance and information on available services. But such services are overstretched, reaching only a small percentage of those who need them, and the UN's security rules continue to hamper UNHCR's ability to coordinate to all Iraqis. In 2008, the Ministry of Education reported Iraqi primary and secondary school registration dropped from 50,000 to 35,000. While a few returned to Iraq, many families reported needing children to leave school to work. Others blamed falling enrollment on overcrowding, the different Syrian curriculum, lost years of education, high incidental costs, no documentation for proper student placement, and students' discomfort with more prosperous classmates. The Iraqi refugee crisis is far from over and recent violence is creating further displacement. Iraqi women will resist returning home, even if conditions improve in Iraq, if there is no focus on securing their rights as women and assuring their personal security and their families' well being. Reducing support to displaced families could force returns to insecure areas without adequate services and trigger additional instability in Iraq. Budget cuts will hit women the hardest. The U.S. and other donor governments should avoid shifting funds into returns programs without fully funding programs for the displaced.