28th September, 2007

A deepening refugee crisis is looming in Iraq as Syria and Jordan tighten their border controls, Amnesty International has warned.

In a report released this week - Millions in Flight: The Iraqi refugee crisis, Amnesty says the two nations have been shouldering too much of the responsibility when it comes to Iraq’s refugees leading to them to now tighten border controls and cut off the main escape routes for people fleeing violence in Iraq.

Syria now hosts 1.4 million refugees and Jordan 500,000 while 2.2 million people remain internally displaced in Iraq itself.

Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International, says while Amnesty is urging both Syria and Jordan to keep their borders open, they are also calling on other nations to assist the two Middle Eastern nations “by providing increased financial, technical and in-kind bilateral assistance”.

He says Amnesty is also calling on other nations to accept greater numbers of “especially vulnerable refugees” for resettlement. Figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1,425 Iraqi refugees were resettled in third countries in 2003 but only 404 in 2006.

"The international community must accept a shared responsibility by resettling Iraqis from Jordan and Syria, particularly the most vulnerable, in a more expedient manner with a view to increasing the overall resettlement quotas in third countries," says Mr Smart.

"In particular, having regard to their direct involvement in the conflict, the states that make up the US-led Multi-National Force need to do more to alleviate the plight of those who have been forced from their homes by the violence, including those still in Iraq and the refugees in Syria, Jordan and other countries."

~ www.amnesty.org

- DAVID ADAMS