Iraq:UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today concludes a four-day tour of Arab capitals for discussions on the mass exodus of Iraqis from their increasingly violent country.
At least two million have fled to neighbouring Arab countries, half a million in 2006 alone, and 1.7 million have been internally displaced. UNHCR has characterised the upheaval as the largest population movement in the Middle East since 1948 when a million Palestinians were displaced at the time Israel was established.
Laure Chedrawi of UNHCR's regional office said that the number of internally displaced Iraqis is expected to rise to 2.3 million this year, but she had no projections for the outflow. Last month UNHCR issued an appeal for $60 million (€46 million) to provide aid to 250,000 of the most vulnerable internally displaced and 200,000 of the most vulnerable refugees.
Those who leave Iraq soon consume any resources they manage to bring with them and have to rely on host governments and non-governmental agencies for assistance.
Ms Chedrawi observed that Iraqis who come from the central and southern areas of the country are granted refugee status. The central region, including Baghdad and nearby provinces, is considered an area of "extreme violence" while the south is seen as a place of "considerable instability". Iraqis from the three northern Kurdish provinces, which are relatively stable, are not given refugee status, except in certain cases. Kurds living in the centre and south are encouraged to relocate to the Kurdish region rather than leave the country.
Syria, which has taken in more than a million people, five per cent of its own population, has been the favourite destination for poor and lower income Iraqis because it does not require entry visas for Arab visitors and is less expensive than other neighbouring countries.
But last month, during a visit to Syria, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani asked Damascus to close the border. Although this has not happened, Syria has decided to issue Iraqi refugees with two-week renewable visas and impose fresh restrictions on those granted residency. Last week Harith al-Dhari, a leading Iraqi Sunni cleric, also visited the Syrian capital and asked the authorities to abandon these measures. Desperate Iraqis continue to arrive at the rate of 2,000-3,000 a day at Syria's main frontier posts.
Another 750,000 to one million Iraqis have found sanctuary in Jordan and account for 12 per cent of the populace.