AMMAN, Feb 18, 2008 (AFP) — The UN refugee agency appealed on Monday for more aid to Syria and Jordan to help them cope with the cost of sheltering almost two million Iraqis who have fled the violence in their country.
"International solidarity with Jordan and Syria has been of out proportion and my appeal is for stronger support for Iraqis in the two countries," UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres told reporters in Amman.
"We know the heavy price that they have been paying in order to accommodate such a large number of Iraqis with a heavy impact on the economy and society."
Jordan said last week that it estimated the costs of sheltering between 500,000 and 750,000 Iraqi refugees over the past three years at more than two billion dollars, and appealed again for international help.
The UNHCR has sought 261 million dollars (177 million euros) this year to help more than four million people uprooted by the conflict in Iraq, including the internally displaced.
Guterres said Jordan and Syria have pledged not to send Iraqis home against their will because they face deplorable living conditions and a highly dangerous security situation in their country.
"King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as their governments have committed in a very clear way not to send Iraqis home against their will even if they were staying illegally," he said at the end of a tour that also included Iraq and Syria.
Jordan has imposed visa requirements on Iraqis in a bid to stem their huge influx and decided to waive the unpaid fines of illegals who agree to leave to encourage them to return.
Guterres welcomed the kingdom's measures, but said the UNHCR will continue to support Iraqis who wish to return.
The Swedish government, meanwhile, said Iraq will take back asylum-seekers rejected by Stockholm, under a deal signed in Baghdad on Monday that clears the way for the forced deportation of Iraqis from Sweden.
Sweden last year began offering rejected asylum-seekers from Iraq up to 20,000 kronor (2,150 euros, 3,150 dollars) to voluntarily leave the country, but few have agreed to the offer so far.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
