Conference to address plight of millions fleeing bloodshed

The Iraqi refugee crisis in neighbouring countries could spread unless the United States and the EU take urgent measures, a human rights group said today.

Several million Iraqis have been driven from their homes because of the spiralling violence since the invasion in 2003 and the years of oppression under Saddam Hussein.

The bulk of refugees have gone to neighbouring Syria and Jordan, placing a strain on both countries with escalating prices of housing and goods and stretching health care and other basic services to the maximum.

A two-day UN conference, starting tomorrow in Geneva, will address the growing numbers of people fleeing Iraq to escape daily suicide bombings, abductions, house evictions and other atrocities which have made the country one of the world’s worst refugee crises.

“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 to assist the more than three million people forcibly displaced by the conflict in Iraq,” rights group Amnesty International said.

Exact figures on the people fleeing their homes are hard to obtain, but the UN refugee agency estimates that around two million have fled to neighbouring countries, including many uprooted before 2003.

In addition, some 1.9 million Iraqis have been displaced within the country, according to the agency.

Amnesty International called on governments to set up generous resettlement programs.

“Such resettlement programs should go far beyond token numbers and should constitute a significant part of the solution to the current crisis,” it said.

More than 450 officials from around 60 countries and numerous aid workers were expected at the meeting, which is aimed at drawing attention to the humanitarian needs of Iraqis fleeing their homes, and those in neighbouring countries, and looking into ways of resettling those unable to return.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will lead a big delegation from his country and senior officials from the United Nations, the Red Cross and other organisations are expected to attend the conference, which is being hosted by the Geneva-based UN Refugee Agency.

The exodus from Iraq continues unabated with up to 50,000 people fleeing the country every month to escape violence, lack of basic services and livelihood, inflation and uncertainty about their future, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said. The bulk of refugees have gone to neighbouring Syria and Jordan.

Some 750,000 Iraqis, mainly Sunnis and Shiites, have ballooned Jordan’s 5.5 million population by 14%.

The government has recently tightened entry and residency permits on Iraqis, effectively stripping many of their legal status.

In Syria, the presence of more than one million Iraqis increased competition for jobs and work permits, forcing many Iraqis into illegal and exploitative jobs, according to the UN.

While the majority of these refugees rely on extended family networks and savings to support themselves, many who recently fled Iraq have no such support and do not have the means to cover the daily needs of their families, it said.

With the increase of sectarian and criminal violence last year, in particular since the bombing of a Shiite shrine by Sunni-Arab insurgents in Samarra in February 2006, more people were displaced inside Iraq, the UNHCR said.

Almost 730,000 Iraqis have been driven from their homes but have stayed inside Iraq since the beginning of 2006, bringing the number of uprooted within the country, the so-called "internally displaced", to an estimated 1.9 million, according to the agency.

US President George Bush’s administration recently defended itself against congressional charges that it is not doing enough for thousands of Iraqi refugees, including many who are at great risk because of their service to the US-led coalition in Iraq. It said it was taking steps to accelerate admissions of Iraqi refugees to the United States.