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UN News Centre
 For the third time this week the
United Nations refugee agency voiced alarm today at the
unrelenting violence against Palestinian refugees in Iraq, with
34 people reported killed in the past two months and scores more
terrified men, women and children fleeing Baghdad for the border
with Syria, where hundreds are now stranded.
“Conditions at the border are atrocious,” UN High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told
a news briefing in Geneva, again urging the international
community, including neighbouring and resettlement countries, to
help find solutions and safety for refugees unable to remain
inside Iraq.
“It's cold. Clean water has to be trucked in. There is
limited access to food. Tents are crowded and unhygienic.
Tensions are high. The refugees feel very insecure and some
report having been victimized by security officials near the
border. The group is in a very vulnerable situation with no
solution in sight,” she said.
Over the past year UNHCR has voiced mounting alarm for the
Palestinians, who fled to Iraq following the creation of Israel
in 1948. Some received preferential treatment under ousted
President Saddam Hussein, and they have become targets for
attack since his overthrow in 2003. Nearly 20,000 of them have
already fled the country but an estimated 15,000 still remain in
the country, mostly in Baghdad.
“Since 2003, many Palestinians have been kidnapped, tortured
or killed, and violent threats against them have become
routine,” Ms. Pagonis said.
In the latest incident, at least 73 terrified refugees
arrived at the border after 30 Palestinian men, 17 of them
sheltered in a Baghdad apartment building rented by UNHCR, were
taken away on Tuesday by men dressed in Iraqi security force
uniforms and driving security vehicles. They were later released
but by Wednesday all Palestinians in the apartment building had
fled their homes.
The new arrivals brought to 593 the number of Palestinians
stuck at the border, many of them for months. Syria has denied
them access and they refuse to return to Baghdad. “Along with
ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and other
partners, we are ensuring that enough food, water and relief
items are on site,” Ms. Pagonis said. “Additional tents are also
being delivered.”
Estimates of the number killed since 2003 vary widely. In
late December, the Palestinian embassy in Baghdad provided UNHCR
with a list of 161 people killed there. Earlier this week, the
Head of Refugee Affairs for the Palestine Liberation
Organization said 520 hade been killed 140 others wounded by
Shiite militias.
There have been at least two attacks on Palestinian
residential compounds over the past two months, including an
armed assault in December in which at least nine Palestinians
were reportedly killed and 20 wounded.
“We have several reports of kidnappings and murders of
Palestinians, some of whose bodies were found with signs of
torture,” Ms. Pagonis said. “Death threats have increased.
Harassment at work has prompted some to stop working, leaving
them without a livelihood.
UNHCR is also deeply concerned about the continued survival
prospects of 280 Syrian Arabs registered with the agency in
Baghdad who are also facing increasing militia-led violence.
These refugees arrived in successive waves beginning in 1954,
and were granted asylum in Iraq.
“UNHCR has repeatedly urged all parties, including the
[United States-led] multinational forces, the Ministry of
Interior and Iraqi security forces, to provide more protection
and help to refugees throughout the country,” Ms. Pagonis said.
“We also need more rapid and transparent information on any of
those detained during military or police actions, particularly
with the increase in abductions by unidentified militiamen
posing as security agents.” |
