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Dubai: If Nina Al Ghazali was asked before the 2003 war on Iraq whether she would ever think of living outside her country, her reply would have been "never".
But things have changed after her country was torn by the war and its consequences.
She is among millions of Iraqis who escaped the daily cycle of violence, seeking a better life in other countries.
According to UN figures, Iraqis in the first half of this year top those seeking asylum in the West.
"Iraqis have changed," said 26-year-old Al Ghazali, whose family moved to Jordan in October 2005. "They are not the same people I knew," she told Gulf News in an interview.
"Before the war, there was security and it would have been impossible for me to leave my homeland," she said. "Now it would be impossible for me to stay and live in my country."
The family decided to move after a failed kidnapping attempt on her daughter in Baghdad when she was working for an Iraqi-American construction and Engineering company.
"Kidnappers are targeting everybody," she said. "Those who work with the Americans and those who are not, Muslims, Christians and everybody."
Her paternal cousin, who was working at the Ministry of Electricity, was kidnapped nearly two years ago. Her fate is still not known, said Al Ghazali, who is seeking asylum in the US.
The US receives the most asylum requests from all nationalities, the UN says. It is followed by Canada, France, Britain and then Sweden.
However, Sweden is the main destination for Iraqi asylum seekers, according to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report. It is followed by Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Downward trend
With 19,500 requests during the first six months of 2008, Iraqis, UNHCR says, were the top nationality seeking asylum in these countries, despite a fall in the number of Iraqis seeking asylum in industrialised countries.
"Compared to the previous six months, however, the number of Iraqi asylum seekers fell by 18 per cent and by 10 per cent compared to the first half of 2007. In spite of this downward trend, Iraqis still accounted for 12 per cent of all asylum applications lodged in the industrialised world," wrote a UNHCR report.
"The position of the UNHCR is not to promote voluntary repatriation to Iraq, given the present situation in Iraq," Firas Kayal, External Relations Officer at UNHCR, told Gulf News.
"However, if Iraqi refugees decide to return to their country, we will provide counselling and facilitate their return by giving them repatriation grants of $100 [Dh367] and paying for their transportation fees," he added.
Apart from asylum seekers, UN figures estimate the number of displaced Iraqis inside the country at 2 million and another 2 million in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria which hosts 1.2 million Iraqis and Jordan, 750,000 Iraqis.
How long do you think it will take for political stability to return to Iraq? Do you know of an Iraqi who has been affected by the turmoil? How has their life changed? Fill in the form bellow to send your comments.
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