Close to two million Iraqis are displaced within Iraq, and about two million are outside, mostly in Syria, Jordan and nearby countries. While many of those inside and outside Iraq had left before 2003, increasing numbers of Iraqis are now fleeing their homes – up to 50,000 a month. An estimated 712,000 have been internally displaced just over the past year. The current exodus is the largest long-term population movement in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians in 1948. About one out of every eight Iraqis is now displaced.
The hospitality of nearby host countries is becoming strained. Syria has at least a million Iraqis and Jordan has an estimated 750,000. Egypt, Iran, Lebanon and Turkey also have tens of thousands. There is a growing humanitarian crisis, the full extent of which the international community is only beginning to recognize.
On April 17 and 18, the UNHCR will be holding an international conference in Geneva on the humanitarian needs of refugees and displaced people in Iraq and the surrounding region. The UNHCR has also launched a $60 million appeal to fund its work over the next year in caring for the Iraqi refugees.
A special portion of the UNHCR website (www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/iraq?page=home) provides news, statistics, photos and even maps to inform the global community about the Iraqi refugee crisis. There are also links to other organizations helping in the crisis such as the World Food Program and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Donations from the public to aid these refugees are welcome. And you can supplement your cash donations by using the “Live Search” at www.ninemillion.org through March 31, 2007. Each time you perform a search through www.ninemillion.org, Microsoft will make a contribution to this UN Refugee Agency-led campaign providing educational resources for the nine million refugee youth around the world.
The UNHCR is also warning against Internet resettlement scams. Unscrupulous individuals are using elaborate Internet scams to prey on vulnerable people by offering them resettlement in exchange for money. Bogus organizations, claiming affiliation to the UNHCR, are using Internet chat groups, dating websites and fake websites to promise resettlement and employment opportunities in Europe and North America for a fee. For more information on this fraud click to www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4379f8974.html.
