Senator Kennedy: "WE CAN'T IGNORE IRAQ'S REFUGEES" | UNHCR appeal for $60 million for Iraqi refugees

Sapphire Blue

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Sun Jan-14-07 07:58 PM
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Senator Kennedy: "WE CAN'T IGNORE IRAQ'S REFUGEES" | UNHCR appeal for $60 million for Iraqi refugees

Edited on Sun Jan-14-07 08:19 PM by Sapphire Blue

If you agree with Senator Kennedy, please contact:

Your Senators

http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Your Representative

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

We Can't Ignore Iraq's Refugees
By Edward M. Kennedy
Saturday, December 30, 2006; Page A21

(excerpt)

The refugees are witnesses to the cruelty that stains our age, and they cannot be overlooked. America bears heavy responsibility for their plight. We have a clear obligation to stop ignoring it and help chart a sensible course to ease the refugee crisis. Time is not on our side. We must act quickly and effectively.

Today, within Iraq, 1.6 million people have already fled or been expelled from their homes. An additional 1.8 million, fleeing sectarian violence, kidnappings, extortion, death threats and carnage, have sought refuge in neighboring countries. At least 700,000 are in Jordan, 600,000 in Syria, 100,000 in Egypt, 54,000 in Iran and 20,000 in Lebanon. Typically they are not living in refugee camps but have relocated in urban areas, where they must draw on their own meager resources to pay for food and shelter, and must depend on the good graces of the host governments.

(snip)

There is an overwhelming need for temporary relief and permanent resettlement. Last year, however, America accepted only 202 Iraqi refugees, and next year we plan to accept approximately the same number. We and other nations of the world need to do far better.

Thousands of these refugees are fleeing because they have been affiliated in some way with the United States. Cooks, drivers and translators have been called traitors for cooperating with the United States. They know all too well that the fate of those who work with U.S. civilians or military forces can be sudden death. Yet, beyond a congressionally mandated program that accepts 50 Iraqi translators from Iraq and Afghanistan each year, the administration has done nothing to resettle brave Iraqis who provided assistance in some way to our military. This lack of conscience is fundamentally unfair. We need to do much more to help Iraqi refugees, especially those who have helped our troops.

Our nation is spending $8 billion a month to wage the war in Iraq. Yet to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the refugees who have fled the war, the State Department plans to spend only $20 million in the current fiscal year.

Please read the rest @ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122901066.html

UNHCR launches new US$60 million appeal for Iraq operations

GENEVA, January 8 (UNHCR) � The UN refugee agency on Monday launched a US$60 million appeal to fund its work over the next year for hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced people affected by the conflict in Iraq.

"The funds will cover UNHCR's protection and assistance programmes for Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey, as well as non-Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people within Iraq itself," a press release said.

The new appeal concludes that unremitting violence in Iraq will likely mean continued mass internal and external displacement affecting much of the surrounding region. The appeal notes that the current exodus is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948. About one out of every eight Iraqis is now displaced.

(snip)

In 2006 alone, UNHCR estimates that nearly 500,000 Iraqis fled to other areas inside the country and that 40,000 to 50,000 continue to flee their homes every month. UNHCR's planning figures under the latest appeal are for up to 2.3 million internally displaced people within Iraq by the end of this year.

The UNHCR appeal notes that a significant proportion of both the internally and externally displaced Iraqis has run out of resources or will soon do so, leaving them and their host communities increasingly vulnerable. There are increasing reports of women forced to resort to prostitution, as well as growing child labour problems. The appeal includes programmes to identify and register the most vulnerable among the displaced so they can get the support they need.

Continued @ http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/45a270954.html

Images from UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) (http://www.unhcr.org/partners/PARTNERS/45a296f24.pdf)

AL TANF refugee camp at the Iraq-Syria border/UNHCR

Iraqi IDPs in Fallujah/UNHCR.

Iraqi IDP camp in Fallujah/UNHCR

Ruwayshed refugee camp, Jordan, Iraqi refugee family/UNHCR/P. Sands

Iraqi refugee mother speaks to her son in Baghdad
from her temporary home in Jordan /UNHCR/P. Sands

EL HOL Iraqi refugee camp at the Syria-Iraq border/UNHCR