2.7 million Iraqis displaced living difficult conditions
Iraq-USA, Politics, 3/18/2008

The Geneva-based refugee agency said today that the number of Iraqis seeking refuge in the European states doubled in 2007 compared with the preceding year.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that in 2007 twice as many Iraqis -- some 45,200 -- applied for refugee status in the European states.

In the meantime, the International Organization for Migration said that almost one in five of Iraqi population are living as internally displaced people or refugees in other countries.

IOM said the 2.7 million displaced were putting huge pressure on Iraq's shaky infrastructure and outside funding was lacking.

The situation of the 2.4 million refugees, who are mainly in Syria and Jordan, was also deteriorating, the Geneva-based IOM said in a statement.

"There is very little light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq's humanitarian crisis," IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya told reporters in Geneva.

"Conditions for the displaced, and refugees, have been getting steadily worse." Although there had been a large number of IDPs in Iraq under Saddam, the 2003 invasion displaced tens of thousands more, she said.

The number soared in 2006 as a result of sectarian violence, at one point reaching 60,000 a month.

"Many IDPs live in sub-standard or over-crowded shelter as they are largely without income to afford escalating rent prices," she said.

More than 75 percent had no access to government food rations and nearly 20 percent lacked supplies of clean water, she said adding that some 33 percent could not get the medicine they needed while only 20 percent had had any help from humanitarian agencies.

Representatives of countries hosting Iraqi refugees are to hold a meeting in Jordan on Tuesday to discuss status of the Iraqi refugees.

Delegations from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and a number of the Persian Gulf littoral states as well as representatives from some international organizations have been invited by Jordan to the meeting. Iran is to attend the day-long gathering as observer, the sources added.

The participating delegations would discuss the situation of Iraqi refugees in the host countries.

Previous Stories:
  US ambassador Ryan Crocker roundtable on Iraq   (3/5/2008)
  UN urge increased assistance for uprooted Iraqis   (2/12/2008)
  Number of people fleeing inside Iraq could rise   (10/23/2007)

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