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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.” |
