UN: Visa limits stop fleeing Iraqis

[David]

AP


GENEVA - The number of Iraqis fleeing their homeland has declined in recent months, primarily because neighboring countries refuse to let them enter, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.

The improvement in security in some areas of Iraq also may play a role, said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

"It could be a whole combination of things," he said.

An estimated 2 million Iraqis are living outside their country, most of them having left since the U.S.-led invasion nearly five years ago, according to UNHCR.

"The number of people fleeing Iraq has declined considerably because of the visa restrictions that have been imposed by governments around Iraq, particularly Syria and Jordan," Redmond said.

"There used to be 3,000 people a day, but that's not possible now because they require visas," he told The Associated Press. He said he was unable to say exactly how many people are leaving Iraq now, but he was sure it was much lower.

Syria imposed new rules in October limiting visas to Iraqis traveling for commercial, transport, scientific or education reasons, and requiring them to apply at the Syrian Embassy in the volatile Baghdad district of Al-Mansour. Jordan barred Iraqis earlier.

Redmond said UNHCR was unable to confirm reports by Iraq's government that at least 30,000 Iraqi families had returned home in late 2007. The agency doesn't encourage refugees to return, because of concerns over security. But it does support Iraqi government efforts to help those who return voluntarily, he said.

UNHCR estimates that in addition to those who have left Iraq, some 2.2 million people have fled their homes but remain inside in the country. That number, too, has changed little in recent months.

"Internal displacement continues," Redmond said. "But a lot of the population has already moved."

The agency called Tuesday for the world community to provide $261 million this year to help all Iraqis driven from their homes by violence. It would go for health care, financial support and other assistance to the most vulnerable of those who have fled the country as well as help for 400,000 of those displaced inside Iraq, Redmond said.

"Getting help to many of them is extremely difficult because of insecurity in much of the country," Redmond said.

The agency plans to hand out items needed in households and shelters to those most in need and to help local authorities manage the influx of people displaced internally, he said.

Most Iraqi refugees live in urban areas in Syria and Jordan, he said.

"Many of them are running out of money and finding it increasingly difficult to get by," he told reporters.

The agency also supports governments in the region that have seen local resources, health services and school systems strained by large numbers of Iraqi refugees, he said. Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and several of the Persian Gulf states also host people from Iraq.

The money will enable an additional 100,000 Iraqi refugee children to go to school this year, twice as many as last year, Redmond said.

UNHCR, which has nearly 350 staff working on programs for Iraq and the region, received more than $152 million in 2007 to help uprooted Iraqis and refugees inside Iraq, Redmond said.