EU report ups the pressure to take in more Iraq refugees

Nov 25, 2008, 9:38 GMT

Brussels - An internal European Union report on the state of Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria raises the pressure on the bloc to take in more of them ahead of a key ministerial meeting Thursday.

The report, seen by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, concludes that 'there is a clear need for resettlement' of Iraqi refugees from the two countries, and that an 'increased engagement on the part of the EU countries on resettlement could send a positive signal to the governments of the hosting countries.'

And while it stops short of calling outright on the bloc to take in more Iraqi refugees on a permanent basis, it points out that the United States took in over 11,000 in 2007 and 2008, while the EU's 27 members combined took in just one-tenth of that figure.

The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, says that 'there is a clear need for additional European quota,' the report points out.

In early November, the EU despatched a group of 17 experts from the bloc's executive, the European Commission, and member states such as Germany, Finland, Poland, Britain and Cyprus, to refugee camps in Syria and Jordan.

And the mission's report, which EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot is set to present to EU interior ministers at a working lunch on Thursday, paints a grim picture of life for the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees currently living in Syria and Jordan.

The situation for the refugees is 'deteriorating ... (with) many clear and easily identifiable cases of vulnerability, in particular persons with medical needs, victims of trauma and severe torture, women-headed households and religious minorities,' it says.

Moreover, local integration is 'not a realistic option' for the great majority, and the governments of Syria and Jordan 'cannot meet all the needs,' despite a 'high degree of generosity,' it says.

Above all, the EU must do more to help Palestinian refugees who had originally settled in Iraq and have now been forced to flee to camps in the no-man's-land between Syria and Iraq, it says.

Some 2,500 Palestinians are currently housed in the camps at Al Waleed, Al Hol and Al Tanf, and their situation is 'extremely bad, and is compounded by the hopelessness of their situation, given that they cannot return to Iraq and are not allowed to enter Syria.' 

'These refugees are urgently in need of protection. As protection is not available in Syria, resettlement is the only option,' the report says.

Ministers are expected to respond to the report by urging one another to increase the number of vulnerable Iraqi refugees they accept, but to stress that the great majority of refugees should rather be helped to return home, diplomats in Brussels said.

Debate is still ongoing on the question of whether the ministers should set a numerical target, with the French government, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, calling for a target 'which could be on the order of a total of several thousand.'