http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/19/world-refugee-day/ The official Web log for Great Decisions 2007 Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:08:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/19/world-refugee-day/#comment-138 Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:26:28 +0000 http://migration.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/06/19/world-refugee-day/#comment-138 [...] Politicians, administrators and experts from Syria, Egypt, the Arab League and United Nations relief organizations, as well as representatives of the United States, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Japan attending as observers met in Amman, Jordan this week to discuss how best to address the needs of Iraqi refugees. Attendants expressed frustration at what seems to have been little more than a talking shop, as the New York Times reports. While the focus should have been the development of an economic, security and infrastructural strategy for dealing with the refugees, aid was the central focus of most of the discussions. The conference came just two days after Amnesty International had warned that the Iraqi refugee situation was nearing a breaking point. More than two million Iraqis have now fled the sectarian violence raging in their country and almost two million others are internally displaced. A humanitarian crisis of unforeseen dimensions looms, if immediate action isn’t taken, the organization warns - and conferences like Friday’s meeting in Amman are clearly insufficient to address the pressing situation. Amnesty calls on both the Iraqi government to live up to its promised aid payments but also demands Western governments offer generous resettlement packages. We have covered the tenuous situation of Iraqi refugees in a number of blogs in the past, particularly the reluctance of many EU governments to accept additional displaced Iraqis fleeing the insecure situation in their homeland. [...] […] Politicians, administrators and experts from Syria, Egypt, the Arab League and United Nations relief organizations, as well as representatives of the United States, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Japan attending as observers met in Amman, Jordan this week to discuss how best to address the needs of Iraqi refugees. Attendants expressed frustration at what seems to have been little more than a talking shop, as the New York Times reports. While the focus should have been the development of an economic, security and infrastructural strategy for dealing with the refugees, aid was the central focus of most of the discussions. The conference came just two days after Amnesty International had warned that the Iraqi refugee situation was nearing a breaking point. More than two million Iraqis have now fled the sectarian violence raging in their country and almost two million others are internally displaced. A humanitarian crisis of unforeseen dimensions looms, if immediate action isn’t taken, the organization warns - and conferences like Friday’s meeting in Amman are clearly insufficient to address the pressing situation. Amnesty calls on both the Iraqi government to live up to its promised aid payments but also demands Western governments offer generous resettlement packages. We have covered the tenuous situation of Iraqi refugees in a number of blogs in the past, particularly the reluctance of many EU governments to accept additional displaced Iraqis fleeing the insecure situation in their homeland. […]

]]>