Middle East Facing a ‘Humanitarian Crisis’

GENEVA, 16 April 2007 — A new humanitarian crisis looms in the Middle East unless Western powers take urgent measures to assist four million Iraqis uprooted by conflict, Amnesty International warned yesterday.

The London-based human rights group called on the United States, the European Union and others to help Jordan and Syria, whose governments are struggling to care for some two million Iraqi refugees who have fled their homeland.

Another 1.9 million are displaced within Iraq, many in the past year marked by suicide bombings and sectarian violence.

The appeal came ahead of a two-day international conference in Geneva, opening tomorrow, called by the United Nations refugee agency to confront massive needs in the region. “The Middle East is on the verge of a new humanitarian crisis unless the European Union, the US and other states take urgent and concrete measures,” Amnesty said in a statement.

Malcolm Smart, head of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North African Program, said Syria and Jordan had borne the brunt of the refugee exodus so far, “but there must be a limit.”

“It is vital that other governments now step in and deliver...direct assistance to ensure that the refugees are adequately housed and fed, and have access to health care and education in Syria, Jordan and the other (host) countries,” he said. From 40,000 to 50,000 Iraqis flee their homes each month in an exodus linked to pervasive violence, poor basic services, a loss of jobs, and an uncertain future, according to the UNHCR.

More than 3,000 US forces and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed since Washington led an invasion of the country in March 2003 that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sectarian tensions between majority Shiites and Sunni Arabs erupted after the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra in February 2006, adding to widespread violence and prompting many to leave their homes.

“Those who have fled are becoming increasingly desperate as they and their host communities run out of resources,” UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters before the Geneva meeting.

“We hope to hear commitments on all of these aspects next week because the international community needs to focus collectively on a whole range of humanitarian needs,” he said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, US Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky and senior European officials are among 450 officials due to attend the meeting. Although the gathering is not a donor conference, UN officials hope that it will put pressure on Western states to provide more financial help and take more Iraqi asylum-seekers.