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The
continuing plight of Iraqi refugees |
Posted By Amina
Anderson
More than four million Iraqis are now
living away from home, including about
800,000 who fled the war-torn country
since sectarian violence intensified
just over a year ago, according to the
latest data released by the UN refugee
agency.
About 95 percent of fleeing Iraqis
remain in the Middle East, with nearly
2 million living in Syria and Jordan.
The number of Iraqis in Western
states, mainly Europe, also surged by
77 percent (22,200) in 2006.
The displacement includes 1.9 million
people who are living in Iraq, most of
whom are sheltering with friends and
relatives who have little space or
food to share.
Most of the refugees and the
internally displaced live in acute
poverty with little access to health
and education.
The UN refugee agency, which describes
the refugee crisis in Iraq as the
biggest population exodus since the
displacement of the Palestinians
following the creation of Israel in
1948, says that that the humanitarian
crisis in Iraq is worsening, with more
than 50,000 people fleeing the
war-torn country each month.
"Iraq is not just a deeply
controversial political and security
issue, but a profound and no doubt
lasting humanitarian crisis affecting
millions of civilians," UN
humanitarian chief John Holmes said on
Tuesday at the opening of a two-day
UNconference highlighting the plight
of Iraqi refugees.
Apparently, the international
community focused on the turmoil
inside Iraq and ignored this
humanitarian crisis, the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio
Guterres, told government and aid
officials from 60 countries attending
the meeting in Geneva.
"There is not enough attention on
the fact that four million people have
been displaced and they live in very,
very difficult circumstances inside
and outside Iraq,” Guterres said.
"It is time that the
international community responded with
genuine solidarity and unstinting aid
to displaced Iraqis and to the states
hosting them," he added.
Guterres said more is needed to be
done inside Iraq to prevent people
from leaving the country. He also paid
tribute to Jordan and Syria's
"generosity" to Iraqi
refugees, underlining that the two
countries had provided refuge
"without any meaningful support
from outside."
The United Nations wants commitments
from wealthy countries, above all the
U.S. and EU, to support Jordan and
Syria and to accept some of the most
vulnerable refugees themselves.
Aid officials warn that legal escape
routes for Iraqi refugees were being
cut off by several states, while
regional authorities inside Iraq
started to turn away displaced people,
further fuelling the exodus from the
country.
The U.S.-based group Human Rights
Watch (HRW) said in a statement that
Iraq’s neighbors were "closing
off escape routes" for refugees
by introducing restrictions, including
a seven-billion-dollar high-tech
barrier it says Saudi Arabia is
building on its border with Iraq.
Another agency, the International
Organization for Migration, warned
that about half of Iraq's 15 central
and southern governorates were turning
away displaced people arriving from
other areas.
"Those fleeing violence and
threats need assistance urgently, as
do host communities," said Rafiq
Tschannen, the IOM's chief of mission
in Iraq. "If they can't get it
inside Iraq, they will end up becoming
refugees in neighboring countries
which are already sheltering about two
million Iraqis and greatly
stretched.”
In a video message, the UN chief Ban
Ki-moon told Tuesday’s meeting that
Iraq’s neighbors must not close
their borders to refugees.
"I hope this conference will
galvanize international support to
provide them with more protection and
assistance and I hope it will mobilize
resources in establishing much needed
protection space… For neighboring
countries this means keeping borders
open and upholding the principle of no
forced return," Ban added, while
also extending his appeal to more
distant asylum countries.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said
that the United States and the United
Kingdom bear a particular
responsibility to help people
displaced inside and outside Iraq
because they generated the conflict
there.
"They undertook a war that has
directly caused thousands of deaths,
widespread fear and suffering, and
forced displacement," HRW refugee
director Bill Frelick sad in a
statement.
"This precipitated a sectarian
conflict that has caused additional
violence, persecution and displacement
on a massive scale," he added.
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