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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group

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From: kumar	2/14/2007 10:04:09 PM
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UN welcomes US Iraq refugee plan The United Nations has welcomed US plans to grant up to 7,000 Iraqi refugees asylum over the next year. Antonio Guterres, who heads the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), described the policy plans as "a very good step in the right direction". The number represents a huge increase on the 463 refugees the US has taken in since the war began four years ago. Meanwhile, the US will also offer $18m (£9.2m) to the UNHCR to help millions of other Iraqi refugees. The US move has been prompted by criticism over the number it has taken in so far. Mr Guterres said: "The dimension of the problem is so huge that nothing is anytime (ever) enough but I think it is a very good start, a very good step in the right direction." The UN estimates that up to 50,000 Iraqis flee each month and that 3.8m have left since the war started. US officials will interview the refugees during the current US fiscal year which ends on 30 September. It is not known when those approved would actually arrive in the country. UN appeal Most of the refugees have headed for Syria and Jordan. But both countries have tried to cut the influx, narrowing options for those fleeing. The 7,000 refugees would move to the US from countries they have already reached. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the figures was a "target" not a ceiling. The plan would also afford special treatment to those in Iraq who were at risk of sectarian attack through providing the US with information. Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey said the increase in the US refugee quota reflected a change in the situation on the ground, following the attack on a Shia mosque in Samarra a year ago. "It really was not until after the Samarra bombing ... that the sectarian violence began to reach a level that there was significant outward movement," she said. The UN has called for $60m (£30.5m) from nations for a global resettlement programme. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk Published: 2007/02/15 01:28:25 GMT © BBC MMVII

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