Our Association

Cairo is home to a enormously diverse group of peoples. Placed at the crossroads between Africa, Europe and the Middle East, our team of writers, researchers and multimedia artists are in a unique position to witness the stories of an estimated 150,000 Iraqi refugees now living in and around the capital, and relate those stories to millions more around the world who share internet access.

Iraqis in Egypt

Like the countries of Syria, Jordan and Lebanon that have all played host large numbers of Iraqis, Egypt has an estimated 150,000 refugees who have sought asylum within its borders during the last five years. Most of these refugees are living in and around the city of Cairo, in neighbourhoods like 6th October, Ain Shams and Giza. The rights of Iraqis as refugees in Egypt are severely limited:

• They do not have the right to work.
• They cannot send their children to public schools.
• They lack the necessary access to healthcare.

They have come with limited resources. Unable to work and with their funds already exhausted or fast running out, their situations are becoming increasingly desperate. There is a plethora of serious medical conditions among these refugee populations. Unlike other refugee populations, cancers of every known type are suffered by adults and children alike, and many children born during the sanctions suffer birth defects, some related to the depleted uranium left in Iraq after the first Gulf War of 1990. Many have suffered serious psychological trauma from their experiences in Iraq and cannot afford to receive treatment in Egypt. Suicidal tendencies among teenagers are not uncommon. As the money runs out, so do their options. Faced with little choice, many are now returning to Iraq to face the prospect of more violence and instability. They are often forced to stay in internal displacement camps or with family, their homes having been destroyed or illegally occupied by insurgents and militia.

The Crisis

2.5 MILLION REFUGEES

ANOTHER 2.7 MILLION INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

Numbers that defy belief: these are the people of Iraq who have been forced to flee their homes since the start of the war in March 2003.

It’s a humanitarian crisis the scale of which has not yet been fully understood and perhaps never will be; a crisis that for now has remained in the shadows of an argument that is almost entirely focused on how to ‘win the war’ in Iraq.

While that argument continues to rage within the corridors of power and beyond in the court of public opinion, millions of Iraqis are now suffering in exile, largely forgotten and abandoned by the very people who promised them hope, freedom from tyranny and a brighter future for all.

In the years since the American invasion of Iraq, the country has become an open battleground for foreign insurgents, Sunni and Shiite militias, thugs and gangsters. The daily violence throughout the country has claimed the lives hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Millions more have been forced to flee.

Some have been persecuted because of their religious beliefs, others because of their political affiliations. Many have been targeted because they worked with the American military or with the Coalition Provisional Authority. Whatever the reason is for their flight, most Iraqis now living in exile have been victims of unspeakable acts of violence. Many have survived attempted kidnappings, torture, and almost all have been threatened with death.