Dylan Cantwell Smith
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
Iraq Support Unit
The headquarters of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva is a fairly modern, brick and glass fortress-like building nestled in an angular block among the wide thoroughfares and grand buildings that all lead to the Palais des Nations – the centre of the UN in Europe. On two sides of a triangular, seven-story atrium are floors of offices, divided up by function and geographical region. More offices, conference rooms and a cafeteria curve around the back of the atrium.
The Bureau for Near and Middle East takes up the southwestern side of the third floor, and at the very end sits the Iraq Support Unit (ISU). Comprised of 6 experts, the ISU manages the Iraq refugee crisis, an enormous and incredibly complex project that involves offices in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt, as well as many other elements of the UNHCR network, other UN agencies, NGOs and governments. And the office, designed in an open style with working spaces flowing into each other among plants, bookshelves, maps and posters, is a hub of activity. The Iraq refugee crisis has become one of the largest, most pressing and topical concerns at the UNHCR, which is the lead organization for the humanitarian situation in Iraq. As such, the work of the team was coupled with the coming and going of UNHCR staff from various other units – protection, resettlement, security, etc. – as well as representatives from those other UN agencies, NGOs, governments and the like.
It was an amazing environment to work in. My new team members each spoke about 5 languages, and each had a vast amount of experience. Jimmy, Marilyn, Julia and Yasuko form the heart of the team, which is headed by Andrew Harper. They were very welcoming, and always available for advice and information – which I tried to take advantage of without being obtrusive.
I arrived two days after exams ended, and over the next two-and-a-half months I became immersed in this work. I was very fortunate to work directly for Andrew, who gave me a wide range of tasks and involved me in many aspects of the work that the office was doing. After learning as much as I could about Iraq, and specifically the refugee and IDP situation there, which I did partly through my initial assignment – reading and editing a large guidebook created for government officials of the countries surrounding Iraq that laid out the legal, cultural, social and religious framework within which refugee claims from Iraq should properly be evaluated – I moved onto some bigger, more sustained, projects.
One of the first, and longest, was the creation of a database that would provide information to lay the groundwork for figuring out where the UNHCR should be operating in Iraq over the next few years. The information related to security concerns, refugee issues and information, socio-economic data, location and operation of partner NGOs, etc, in each governorate of Iraq that when put together allowed us to figure out where in the country it would make sense for us to be, as well as giving a more accurate picture of what was happening on the ground. Unfortunately, the reason that I was assigned this task was because for the most part this information did not actually exist anywhere, or updated versions were not particularly accessible. It was an adventure that involved a lot of research, contact with our staff and other groups inside and outside Iraq, mapping, and gathering information from random sources, but it slowly came together and became relevant enough to be useful.
Through this work, however, I also became the de facto ‘updated information source’. New numbers, figures, news and information from the field – often in the form of Field Reports (from our offices in Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, in particular) – were funneled directly to me for compiling and dissemination. So then I was put in charge of putting together the UNHCR Iraq Updates, which provided the most important news and statistics relevant to the crisis, and after editing and approval by Andrew, were sent out to all and sundry as the official UNHCR word on what was happening with Iraq’s refugees and IDPs. In the same way, I was responsible for the monthly updates of the Iraq Refugee Maps, which demonstrated the flow of refugees out of Iraq and where they were headed, IDP populations and movement within Iraq, relevant statistics, etc. It was both strange and satisfying to see information and statistics that I had put together be released as official UN documents, and stranger still to see that information in the international media.
I also worked on various other small jobs, helped out where I could with tasks the others were doing, and tried to learn as much as possible. And I learned a lot – about Iraq, of course, but also about the UNHCR, the UN generally, about massive fieldwork operations, about managing humanitarian crises. In fact, besides the actual work, three specific things created a context in which I was able to learn so much. First, the other ISU members were incredibly generous with their time and patience throughout my stay. Aside from direct help with my work, Jimmy and Marilyn, especially, would often take me for coffee and explain the intricacies of how things worked at the UN, or the hierarchy of who to call in the field, or why we were doing or not doing certain things, or to talk about my own career, or anything else. Just those two provided open access to a combined 44 years experience working at the UNHCR, in an honest and humble way that I was endlessly thankful for. Second, Andrew put me at a desk that was just outside his office (which was partitioned, but not completely closed off). As such, I was able to watch and listen to the daily meetings and phone calls with people from all over the world who were involved in every facet of this crisis. Just that day-to-day exposure drastically increased my understanding of how a humanitarian situation is managed. Third, despite my temporary status, Andrew involved me in many aspects of the work of the office. I often attended meetings of all sorts, went to press conferences at UN headquarters, attended the Human Rights Council, and its side meetings on Iraq, and, of course, was given work to do that was topical and relevant.
From the beginning, I did have to slightly re-orient myself, as the UNHCR is, in many ways, a very practical, logistical organization – that is, most of the work revolves around protecting and taking care of refugees. In our work in Iraq, there was very little thinking about root causes and effecting change. There is some advocacy, but for the most part, our unit was focused on the lives of 2.5 million people who needed help immediately. This was different than a lot of the human rights work I have been doing at law school, and once again, there was a steep learning curve. It was daunting, and I often felt rather useless and overwhelmed, but in hindsight I realize that these feelings were because I was new and trying to keep up with a team of people doing very good work, but also because the Iraq refugee crisis is itself daunting and overwhelming, and all of us felt that way.
In the end, despite some misgivings about working in Geneva instead of in the field, I wound up having a great working experience that that forced me to grow in a number of ways, taught me a lot and provided an invaluable complement to previous experiences in the field.