On September 30, right before the US government shutdown took place, the Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa Program (SIV) was set to expire. EPIC has been working closely with the SIV program since it was instated in 2008. This program granted special immigration status to Iraqis who worked with the United States during the war. This […]
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A Lost Generation: Syrian Children and Youth in Iraq
A recent UN report released on November 29, 2013, revealed that over half of the 2.2 million Syrian refugees are under the age of eighteen. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warns of the risk of a lost generation of Syrian children, as they face the harrowing effects of the Syrian conflict. These children […]
Iraqi IDPs
Nearly two years after the US withdrawal, Iraq is still struggling to recover from the decade long occupation. This is illustrated through many facets of Iraqi society, such as 1,131,810 internally displaced persons (IDPs) still reside in Iraq, with over 200,000 living in Baghdad. Rather than the number of IDPs declining, the violence and unrest […]
Why Does Iraq Matter?
Here at EPIC, we tell you every day why we believe that Iraq matters. However, we have no way of telling the whole story. Our experiences and stories only give you partial glimpses into why President Obama needs to put Iraq back on his administration’s agenda. However, with the help of several of our supporters, […]
Syria’s Forgotten Victims
Recently, much of the coverage of the Syrian civil war has focused on the two million refugees who have fled the country since the onset of the war. While this issue deserves all of the attention it receives, another issue which has been largely absent from the media coverage of the Syrian war is the […]
Iraq’s New Election Law
On Monday, November 4, Iraqi lawmakers passed a new election law. Under this law, parliamentary elections are set to be held on April 30, 2014. This step was necessary because the Supreme Court in Baghdad declared the previous election law unconstitutional in 2010. The electoral law was the subject of political deadlock which lasted for […]
Winterization: An Urgent Need in Refugee Camps
As December is starting, the number of Syrian refugees living in Iraq has reached over 208,000 people. This population is far greater than anyone had ever anticipated, and the refugee camps located in Iraq are struggling to accommodate these hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. The six permanent camps in Iraq are extremely overcrowded, as they […]
The Need for More than Empty Diplomacy
In our previous blog post, we discussed the need for the November 1 meeting between President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to produce tangible results regarding the Strategic Framework Agreement (SFA). While this document, which has been reported as the main focus of the meeting, is extremely important to the future of Iraq, […]
The Strategic Framework Agreement and the Future of Iraq
When President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki meet on November 1, one of the main topics of conversation will be the Strategic Framework Agreement. This agreement, which was signed in 2008, outlines the terms for political, economic, cultural, and security cooperation between the United States and Iraq. This document was meant to serve […]
YES Academy and the Importance of Arts Education
With approximately 56% of the Iraqi population comprised of people age 24 and younger, arts education is something that needs to become increasingly important throughout Iraq. Arts education has been proven to foster innovation, problem solving and critical thinking abilities, and team-building skills, all of which are critical as Iraqi society works toward a more […]