UN: 100,000 Iraqis seek resettlement

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has received 100,000 applications by Iraqi refugees for resettlement.

“100,000 submissions of Iraqi refugees is a tremendous achievement,” UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday. “Many have been living in limbo for years,” he added.

Of the applications, submitted over the past three years, 52,173 people have already left the Middle East by May 2010, according to the UN agency, AFP reported.

The UN body also said that around 1.8 million Iraqis are currently seeking refuge in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

In another report earlier on Tuesday, the UNHCR announced that conflicts and persecutions had uprooted over 43 million people globally in 2009.

“Persistent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and Somalia mainly accounted for the increase in the overall figure,” the report stated.

Other crises, such as the occupation of Palestine, the war in Afghanistan, and the conflict in southern Sudan, are discouraging uprooted people from returning home.