IRAQI REFUGEES : 7 MILLION

இரண்டாவது எண்ணெய் வளச் செழிப்பு மிக்க நாட்டின் 70 இலட்சம் மக்கள் நாடோடிகளாய் அலைகிறார்கள்!

GENEVA, March 18 (Xinhua)
A five-year downward trend in asylum applications in industrialized countries reversed in 2007, largely due to an increase in the
number of Iraqi asylum seekers, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.
Some 338,000 new applications for refugee status were submitted last year in 43 industrialized countries, a 10-percent rise compared with 2006, which saw the
fewest number of applications in20 years, said the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in a statement.
An overview of the Palestinian refugees camp near the Iraqi-Syrian borders, about 600 km (373 mile) west of Baghdad Feb. 27, 2008. About 1800 Palestinian
refugees live in tents at a camp on the Iraqi-Syrian borders from the Iraqi side, an employee of the U.N. refugee commission said. Picture taken Feb. 27, 2008.
"The overall downward trend in asylum applications was offset last year by a large increase in the number of asylum seekers from Iraq," the Geneva-based agency
said.
According to the agency, Iraqis topped the list of asylum seekers in the world's industrialized countries for the second year running. The number of Iraqis applying for
asylum almost doubled in one year, from 22,900 in 2006 to 45,200 last year.
However, the number represents only 1 percent of the estimated 4.5 million Iraqis uprooted by the domestic conflict, the UNHCR added.
Those include more than 2.5 million people displaced within Iraq and another 2 million in neighboring countries such as Syria and Jordan. A clown performs a show for Iraqi refugee children in cooperation with the UNHCR at a community centre in Sayyedah Zeinab near Damascus Feb. 28, 2008. Syria
hosts about 1.4 million Iraqi refugees according to UNHCR reports. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
The United States was the main destination for asylum seekers of all nationalities in 2007, with an estimated 49,200 new asylum claims, accounting for 15 percent of
all applications in industrialized countries.
After the United States, other main destination countries for asylum seekers in 2007 were Sweden, France, Canada and Britain. Greece, Germany, Italy, Austria and
Belgium were also among the top 10 receptor countries.

UNHCR Briefing Notes Internal displacement in Iraq
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 8 April 2008, at
the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The plight of some 2.77 million internally displaced Iraqis remains precarious. According to the latest internal displacement figures, more than 1.5 million of them were
displaced since 2006 and the remainder prior to that.
According to the latest estimates, the number of IDPs in need of shelter and food is now tops a million. More than 1 million internally displaced people have no
regular income, and some 300,000 have no access to clean water. Tens of thousands are in need of legal aid to enable them to access other basic services.
Given the dire needs, UNHCR was extremely pleased with an announcement last week by Government of Kuwait that it is contributing $1 million toward our work
on behalf of internally displaced Iraqis. At the same time, the government announced it was also increasing its annual contribution to UNHCR's general budget to $1
million.
The Kuwaiti contribution to the Iraq operation will cover specific work in health and education – both areas of major concern among the internally displaced. Getting
help to many of the internally displaced is still extremely difficult because of insecurity in much of the country. Most of UNHCR's work inside Iraq is overseen by local
staff in coordination with Iraqi aid agencies. This year, we are focusing on getting assistance to 400,000 of the most vulnerable IDPs in Iraq. Programmes include
protection and legal help through a network of Protection and Assistance Centers; counseling; provision of household and shelter items; support for camps for the
internally displaced; and infrastructure rehabilitation projects to increase the capacity of local communities struggling to cope with internally displaced populations –
including in the health and education sectors.
In January UNHCR appealed for $261 million for our work on behalf of Iraqi refugees outside their country and for the internally displaced. So far, we have received
just under half of that amount. UNHCR thanks the Government of Kuwait for its recent, timely contribution. Iraq programme donors as of 4 April include the United
States ($95.4 million); United Kingdom ($6.2 million); Germany ($3.9 million); Sweden ($2.3 million); European Commission ($1.3 million); Kuwait ($1 million);
France ($740,000); Switzerland ($702,000); Italy ($292,000); private donors ($109,000).
Story date: 8 April 2008UNHCR Briefing Notes