UN seeking govt. aid for Iraqi refugees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has proposed a government-led plan of action to enable thousands of displaced Iraqis to return to their homeland.

“The plan should have clear targets to address the security, property and reintegration issues that would allow people to return in safety and in dignity,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said on Monday.

During his three-day visit to the war-torn Middle Eastern country, Guterres -met with Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari to discuss the issue.

Expressing delight over the formation of the new Iraqi coalition government after months, the UN Refugee chief reiterated that the new government “represents an enormous opportunity for Iraq.”

Recalling the dire conditions of the displaced Iraqis, Guterres stressed the necessity of providing more humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi communities most in need.

“These people are living in dramatic circumstances. They are homeless or living in slums and feel a high level of despair,” he said.

Almost 200,000 Iraqis are registered as refugees with UNHCR, mainly in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. UNHCR estimates also suggest that there are around 1.3 million internally displaced Iraqis, with 500,000 of them living in extremely precarious conditions.

While almost 90,000 Iraqi refugees have returned to their country in the past three years, the rate of return has slowed recently and new asylum-seekers continue to register with UNHCR in neighboring countries.

More than 456,000 internally displaced Iraqis returned to their areas of origin between January 2008 and December 2010.