World must do more for fleeing Iraqis
Says UN chief
Afp, Geneva
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday urged countries to keep their borders open to the growing flood of Iraqi refugees, amid warnings that hosts Jordan and Syria had reached their limits. His appeal came at the opening of a two-day UN conference on the plight of some four million Iraqis who have fled their homes, including nearly 800,000 since sectarian violence intensified in Iraq just over a year ago. Aid agencies warned that legal escape routes for refugees were being cut off by several nations just as regional authorities inside Iraq started to turn away displaced people, potentially fuelling the exodus from the country. "I hope this conference will galvanise international support to provide them with more protection and assistance and I hope it will mobilise resources in establishing much needed protection space," Ban Ki-moon said in a video message. "For neighbouring 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. Jordan and Syria together host nearly two million Iraqi refugees out of a total of some four million displaced by the current conflict and Saddam Hussein's regime. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warned that hospitals, clinics and schools in the two countries "have now reached their limits." It appealed for 15 million dollars (11.1 million euros) in funding to help 100,000 Iraqi refugee families there. Up to 50,000 Iraqis flee sectarian violence every month, according to the UN. "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. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres welcomed Jordan and Syria's "generosity" so far, underlining that the two neighbouring countries had provided refuge "without any meaningful support from outside." "It is time that the international community responded with genuine solidarity and unstinting aid to displaced Iraqis and to the states hosting them," he told the conference. Guterres said also raised the possibility of resettling Iraqi refugees in other unspecified third countries to spread the burden.
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