http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C3CFAE05-8845-4549-B3DF-8B018024917F.htm
UN: Stay open to Iraqi refugees
A million Iraqis have fled to neighbouring Syria
[EPA]
The United Nations secretary-general has urged Iraq's
neighbours to keep their doors open to tens of thousands of people fleeing the
violence in Iraq.
Ban Ki-moon also called on other countries to share the
burden as he addressed an international conference on Tuesday about the growing
number of displaced Iraqis.
More than 450 officials from 60 countries, along with aid
groups, are meeting to explore ways to help the refugees.
"For neighbouring countries this means keeping borders open,"
Ban said. "For other countries it means continuing to provide asylum or other
forms of protection."
Problem 'unnoticed'
Antonio Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, told
the conference the problem had gone unnoticed for too long.
Iraq's displaced
About 1 million Iraqis in Syria
750,000 have fled to Jordan
About 200,000 are in Egypt, Iran and Lebanon
1.9 million are displaced within Iraq
About 50,000 leave Iraq every month
Source: UNHCR
The UNHCR estimates that around two million Iraqis have fled
to neighbouring countries, including many who moved before 2003.
In addition, about 1.9 million Iraqis have been displaced
within the country, according to the agency.
Most refugees have gone only as far as neighbouring Syria and
Jordan, placing a strain on both countries by driving up the prices of housing
and goods as well as stretching health care and other basic services.
About 750,000 Iraqis have increased Jordan's 5.5 million
population by 14 per cent and more than a million have fled to Syria.
'Firm commitment'
Mukhaimer Abu Jamous, secretary-general of Jordan's interior
ministry, told the conference Iraqi refugees were costing his government $1
billion a year.
"We hope that this important conference results in a clear
and firm commitment by the international community to take part in shouldering
the great burden placed on Jordan and other host countries," he said.
About 50,000 people are still leaving Iraq every month,
according to the UNHCR.
Reem Haddad, from the Syrian ministry for information, told
Al Jazeera: "The number of Iraqi refugees in Syria amounts to about six per
cent of Syrian population ... If they had not seen Syria as a sanctuary they
wouldn't have come here."
"We are offering many free services here. Medical, education,
employment ... However, this has caused some stress.
"It's time the governments of the world stepped in and
delivered rather than just pledged."
Humanitarian crisis
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group,
said that the refugee problem threatens to spread across the whole of the
Middle East unless action is taken.
"The United States and
the United Kingdom bear
a particular responsibility to help people displaced in
and out of Iraq"
Human Rights Watch
"The Middle East is on the verge of a new humanitarian crisis
unless the European Union, US and other states take urgent and concrete
measures," it said.
The group called on governments to set up generous
resettlement programmes that "should go far beyond token numbers and should
constitute a significant part of the solution to the current crisis".
Washington has said it will allow about 7,000 Iraqis into the
United States this year - up from only 202 in 2006 - and will contribute more
to help Iraq's neighbours cope with the situation.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, said in a
statement that the US and Britain generated the conflict in Iraq must now help
the fleeing Iraqis.
"The United States and the United Kingdom bear a particular
responsibility to help people displaced in and out of Iraq," Bill Frelick,
refugee director at HRW, said.
"They undertook a war that has directly caused thousands of
deaths, widespread fear and suffering, and forced displacement."
UNHCR has said it wants to resettle permanently 20,000 of the
most vulnerable Iraqi refugees by the end of the year.
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