By Paul Tate with agencies
AMMAN — The United Nations has made an urgent plea for more aid to countries hosting Iraqi nationals, saying Jordan and Syria are still awaiting assistance despite pledges of support.
“It is unconscionable that generous host countries be left on their own to deal with such a huge crisis,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman, Ron Redmond, told a press conference in Geneva.
There are an estimated 750,000 to one million Iraqis now living in Jordan after feeling conflict in their war-torn country.
In Syria, the figure is as high as 1.4 million, with 30,000 new refugees streaming across the border every month.
The huge influxes have placed a massive strain on the two countries’ resources, particularly schools and medical facilities.
“The growing refugee population and the communities that host them are facing enormous hardships that will only get worse if the international community doesn’t put its money where its mouth is,” said Redmond.
The Jordanian government has put the cost of hosting Iraqis at around $1 billion a year.
So far, according to the UN, donors have given $70 million and pledged another $10 million at a conference in April.
A government commissioned report by the Fafo Foundation, a Norwegian research institute, is due to be released this month detailing the number of Iraqis in Jordan, their living conditions, and impact on the economy.
According to UN figures, around 30,000 Iraqis in Jordan have been given asylum-seekers’ documents and are currently awaiting a third country to host them.
However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told The Jordan Times on Saturday that just 900 Iraqis had so far received refugee status.
To date, Western countries have been slow to open their doors to the estimated two million people who have fled Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
According to the UNHCR, only 2,673 Iraqi refugees have been resettled in third countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United States.
Although Jordan acknowledges that the influx of Iraqis has placed additional pressure on the state budget and the country’s scarce resources, a report released on Thursday by the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies said it was not the cause of the country’s soaring inflation.
“It is unsurprising that many Jordanians would associate the very visible arrival of almost a million Iraqis… with the serious economic issues that arose,” the report said.
Citing government figures, the study said inflation rose to 6.25 per cent in 2006 from 1.6 per cent in 2003.
“It appears that the end of subsidised fuel from Iraq, high international oil prices, exports of the domestic food supply and rising costs of food... have done far more to spur inflation in Jordan over the last two years,” said the study, adding that the return of Iraqis to their country “would do little to alleviate inflation”.
Before the US-led invasion in 2003, Jordan was dependent on Iraqi oil, importing 5.5 million tonnes annually, half of it for free and the rest at a preferential rate.
The study, however, noted that rural areas of the Kingdom have borne the brunt of the negative economic consequences of the war.
“Whereas business is brisk in Amman’s restaurants and hotels, which have benefited handsomely for the Iraqis' spending, rural areas have seen little of that economic growth,” it said.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
