By NNN-KUNA,
Geneva : The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged the European Union Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs to reaffirm at their meeting in Brussels Thursday, their commitment to the protection of Iraqi refugees and to agree on the establishment of an EU resettlement programme.
According to the refugee agency, in 2007, a total of 38,500 Iraqis applied for asylum in the 27 EU member states. The number of applications during the first seven months of 2008 was approximately 16,000.
The main receiving countries during those seven months were Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Britain. Elsewhere in Europe, Turkey and Norway received significant numbers.
An estimated 2 million uprooted Iraqis remain in Syria, Jordan and other countries in the region.
Spokesperson William Spindler told reporters Tuesday that the refugee agency needs resettlement places for particularly vulnerable refugees from Iraq, as well as for Palestinian refugees who fled Iraq.
“We hope that the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs will commit the European Union to participation in organised resettlement efforts. At present, only a minority of the 27 EU member states have implemented resettlement programmes,” he added.
Between April 2007 and mid-September 2008, the UNHCR resettled 14,600 Iraqi refugees from Syria, Jordan and other countries in the region. The United States admitted over 60 per cent of them, with just 10 per cent taken in by EU countries.
In addition, said Spindler, the UNHCR is appealing for resettlement places for some 3,000 Palestinian refugees who have fled Iraq and remain stranded in very difficult conditions. This group includes a large number of women and children.
Just over 300 of these refugees have been resettled to date, 47 of them to EU member states.