U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1997 - Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, 9,852 Iraqi refugees were staying at the Rafha camp and some 247,800 Palestinians were living mostly in urban areas at the end of 1996. Since the Iraqi refugee influx of 1991 and through the end of 1996, 19,797 Iraqi refugees had been resettled to 32 countries from Saudi Arabia. Another 7,937 had repatriated; UNHCR was able to monitor 3,005 of those returns. Fewer refugees opted to return in 1996, however, with only 40 persons voluntarily repatriating during the first 11 months of the year, down from the 512 who repatriated in 1995 against the advice of UNHCR. Iraqi Refugees In the aftermath of the Gulf War, 37,768 Iraqi refugees fled to Saudi Arabia and were housed in two camps, Rafha, for families, and Artewiyah, for single men. The original group of refugees included roughly 10,000 Shi'ite rebel fighters who rose in rebellion against Saddam Hussein and another 4,000 or so former soldiers who defected, deserted, or were captured during Operation Desert Storm, and who refused to repatriate at the end of the war based on a fear of persecution if returned. The remaining 24,000 were civilians, mostly Shi'ites from southern Iraq, who fled after Iraqi government forces crushed the Shi'ite rebellion. These refugees sought the protection of the Gulf War coalition forces who were occupying parts of southern Iraq. After the coalition forces withdrew from the occupied zone in mid-1991, the refugees refused to return to government-controlled Iraq, and Kuwait declined to admit thm. Saudi Arabia, however, agreed to offer them temporary refuge. From March 1991 until December 1992, only civilian family units that included females were permitted to live at Rafha camp, located near the Iraqi border. A second camp at Artewiyah, farther inside Saudi Arabia, was established for males – former POWs, rebel fighters, and other civilians (including boys as young as five years old, without female relatives). Harsh, prison-like conditions prevailed in Artewiyah, where the refugees were held in locked cages and where beatings and other forms of abuse were reported, including forced repatriations. About 4,000 Iraqis from both Rafha and Artewiyah were forcibly repatriated before UNHCR was able to establish a presence at the camps. After human rights groups and diplomats protested the treatment of refugees in Artewiyah, the Saudi authorities decided to close the camp and transfer its occupants to Rafha. The Rafha camp, constructed for civilians, was designed to permit each family to live in an individual, air-conditioned dwelling. The camp was built with an electrical grid, indoor plumbing, and paved roads. Despite the lure of better conditions there, the residents of Artewiyah opposed the move, fearing any transfer that would take them closer to the Iraqi border. By the end of 1992, however, the Artewiyah camp was closed, and all Iraqi refugees were consolidated in Rafha. The quality of accommodations in the new (i.e., male) side of the camp, called "Artewiyah" by the refugees, lagged considerably behind the conditions described above on the family side. Although conditions at Rafha were far better than those at Artewiyah, tensions rose between the pre-existing camp population of family units and the newly arrived, predominantly single, males from Artewiyah. The family-based refugees worried about the effect of the addition of a large population of single men into the camp. As the social mores of the camp have evolved, the men have remained segregated in the "Artewiyah" section of the camp. It is not acceptable for men (including young boys without mothers or sisters) to wander over to the family side of Rafha, nor for women or children to go to the Artewiyah side. There have also been tensions between the refugees and the Saudi camp guards, which, at times, have resulted in violent encounters. In March 1993, a camp riot resulted in the deaths of nine refugees and four Saudis. Saudi guards patrol the camp in military vehicles complete with mounted machine guns. Although Saudi Arabia has provided a high level of assistance to the Iraqi refugees, including trucking in food and water, a monthly cash allowance (reduced since the 1993 rioting to biannual clothing allowances), air cooling in the living quarters, and primary and secondary schooling, the Kingdom has refused to accept any of the Iraqi refugees on a permanent basis, and Rafha remains a closed camp located in a highly militarized zone. After six years of living within the barbed wire confines of the camp, some of the refugees showed increasing signs of stress in 1996. Changing camp demographics exacerbated these tensions. As more families have been resettled, the ratio of single men to family units has increased – in 1996, there were nine males for every female in the camp. Given continuing insecurity in Iraq, UNHCR in 1996 affirmed its earlier decision that resettlement in third countries ought to be the preferred durable solution to promote for this refugee population. By the end of 1996, 19,797 refugees had been resettled in third countries. The United States had resettled about half of the total, admitting 10,046 between June 1991 and the end of 1996. Iran had taken the second largest share, resettling 2,630. Sweden, Australia, and the Netherlands had each resettled more than a thousand of these refugees. In the first 11 months of 1996, 3,477 persons were resettled from Rafha to third countries. In fiscal year 1996, the United States reported admitting 1,992 Iraqi refugees from Saudi Arabia. There was opposition in the U.S. Senate, however, to admitting Iraqi refugees. Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), introduced an amendment to the State Department authorization bill to bar any further U.S. admission of Iraqi nationals from Saudi Arabia or Turkey. The bill was softened by the U.S. House of Representatives, requiring the State Department to report to Congress on the admission of Iraqi refugees. Finally, however, in April, President Clinton vetoed the bill, citing other grounds for his veto. Other Foreign Nationals Saudi Arabia's 1992 Basic Law says that "the State will grant political asylum," but qualifies this by adding "if the public interest mitigates" in favor of it. The government has not established procedures for adjudicating refugee claims. In practice, many foreigners who might, in fact, have well-founded fears of persecution if returned to their home countries stay in Saudi Arabia as part of its large expatriate work force rather than as recognized refugees. Foreigners comprise 27 percent of the total population in Saudi Arabia, and guest workers account for about half of Saudi Arabia's work force. Their employers must act as their sponsors to allow them to remain legally in the country. Employers' permission is also required for foreign workers to travel within or to leave the country. Passports are routinely kept by employers, and sometimes confiscated by the government to control movement and, under certain circumstances, to force foreigners to remain in the country against their will. Female foreigners employed as domestic servants are especially prone to abuse. There were 247,800 Palestinians residing in Saudi Arabia in 1996. As a matter of principle, the international refugee regime considers Palestinians residing outside the UNRWA-mandate area (Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza) as prima facie refugees. There are about 160 Afghan refugees at Rafha camp, but UNHCR has not recommended them for resettlement. They are mostly Shi'ites who were guest workers in Iraq at the time of the Gulf War. In November, USCR wrote to the Saudi government on behalf of two Libyans facing deportation. The two were involved in Islamic opposition activities in Libya, and USCR said they would be in serious risk of human rights violations if they were to be returned to Libya.
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