Friday, July 27, 2007
Jordan appeals for help with Iraqi refugee influx
Humanitarian
(RFE/RL) - Jordan has appealed for international help to deal with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis it is hosting on its soil. Mukheimar Abu-Jamous, the secretary-general of Jordan's Interior Ministry, told an international conference in Amman today that the influx of some 750,000 Iraqis into Jordan costs $1 billion a year in basic services, and heightens security concerns in the kingdom.
The conference on the Iraqi refugee crisis brings together officials from Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hajj al-Hmud urged countries hosting refugees not to mistreat those arriving at their borders and to avoid their forcible return until stability returns to Iraq.
The United Nations says some 2 million Iraqis have fled Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion, and estimates that around 50,000 people continue to flee every month, mostly to neighboring Jordan and Syria, which are struggling to cope with the influx of refugees. Rights group Amnesty International said that without urgent action, the influx of Iraqis threatens a humanitarian crisis that could engulf the region.
The conference on the Iraqi refugee crisis brings together officials from Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Iran, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Hajj al-Hmud urged countries hosting refugees not to mistreat those arriving at their borders and to avoid their forcible return until stability returns to Iraq.
The United Nations says some 2 million Iraqis have fled Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion, and estimates that around 50,000 people continue to flee every month, mostly to neighboring Jordan and Syria, which are struggling to cope with the influx of refugees. Rights group Amnesty International said that without urgent action, the influx of Iraqis threatens a humanitarian crisis that could engulf the region.
Labels: Amnesty International, Iraqi refugees, Jordan, Mohammed al-Hajj al-Hmud, Mukheimar Abu-Jamous, UNHCR
Friday, April 20, 2007
Amnesty - Iraq has fourth highest rate of executions worldwide
Humanitarian
(Reuters) - Iraq's use of the death penalty has risen rapidly since it was reinstated in mid-2004 and it now ranks as the country with the fourth-highest rate of executions in the world, Amnesty International said on Friday. The London-based human rights group said in a report that Iraq had sentenced more than 270 people to death since sovereignty was handed back to the Iraqis by the Americans in mid-2004. Of those, at least 100 have so far been executed.
"Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006," the group said. "Higher totals were recorded only in China, Iran and Pakistan." Among those to have been executed are former president Saddam Hussein and three of his closest advisers who were convicted last year of crimes against humanity for their part in scores of deaths in the 1980s. But beyond those high-profile executions, which Amnesty said took place after a trial that "failed to meet international fair trial standards", the rights group said it was also concerned about lower-key cases in the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.
Death sentences are frequently handed down after very brief trials in which defendants are poorly represented, seldom allowed to give evidence and are often tortured into making confessions that are then used against them. "The restoration of the death penalty in Iraq and its extension to additional crimes was a grave and retrograde step," Amnesty said. "More than this, it was a grievously short-sighted development, one that has contributed to, rather than helped alleviate, the continuing crisis in Iraq." The group urged Iraq to introduce a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty, which is opposed by the European Union and the United Nations but remains common in the United States.
"Iraq now figures among the countries with the highest numbers of executions reported in 2006," the group said. "Higher totals were recorded only in China, Iran and Pakistan." Among those to have been executed are former president Saddam Hussein and three of his closest advisers who were convicted last year of crimes against humanity for their part in scores of deaths in the 1980s. But beyond those high-profile executions, which Amnesty said took place after a trial that "failed to meet international fair trial standards", the rights group said it was also concerned about lower-key cases in the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.
Death sentences are frequently handed down after very brief trials in which defendants are poorly represented, seldom allowed to give evidence and are often tortured into making confessions that are then used against them. "The restoration of the death penalty in Iraq and its extension to additional crimes was a grave and retrograde step," Amnesty said. "More than this, it was a grievously short-sighted development, one that has contributed to, rather than helped alleviate, the continuing crisis in Iraq." The group urged Iraq to introduce a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty, which is opposed by the European Union and the United Nations but remains common in the United States.
Labels: Amnesty International, death penalty, executions
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
UNHCR conference on Iraqi refugees opens in Geneva
Humanitarian, International
A two-day conference sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Iraqi displaced persons opened in Geneva on April 17, international media reported. The UNHCR said it will urge the 450 participants from more than 60 governments and international and nongovernmental organizations to do more to help ease the refugee crisis, beginning with Great Britain. Some 1.9 million Iraqis are now displaced inside their country and up to 2 million others have fled abroad, making the refugee crisis the largest displacement of people in the Middle East since the conflict triggered by the creation of Israel in 1948, the UNHCR said. "But we certainly intend and hope that this conference will contribute to raising the awareness of the world to the humanitarian crisis that faces Iraq and Iraqi refugees as a result of the difficult security situation in their country," Radhouane Nouicer, the director of the Middle East and North Africa bureau of UNHCR, said. He noted that the conference will also address the need to protect Iraqi refugees from forcible repatriation, as well as bad treatment or hunger or deprivation by host states.
Amnesty International's briefing: Iraq: A deepening refugee crisis - Media Briefing
Human Rights Watch full report: Iraq: From a Flood to a Trickle - Neighboring States Stop Iraqis Fleeing War and Persecution http://hrw.org/backgrounder/refugees/iraq0407/
Labels: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, humanitarian, IDPs, Iraq, Iraqi refugees, Jordan, Syria, UNHCR
Monday, April 16, 2007
Amnesty warns of humanitarian crisis at start of international conference
Humanitarian
(AP, Reuters) - Amnesty International today warned of a new humanitarian crisis in the Middle East unless governments take urgent measures to help some 4 million displaced Iraqis. The group said Syria and Jordan need direct assistance in order to provide housing, food aid, and health care to some 2 million refugees. Nearly 2 million more Iraqis are displaced within their home country, the report said. The appeal came a day before the start of an international conference in Geneva on Iraqi refugees.
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 on Tuesday, 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, U.S. and other states take urgent and concrete measures," Amnesty said in a statement.
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. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, U.S. Under-Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky and senior European officials are among 450 officials due to attend.
The appeal came ahead of a two-day international conference in Geneva, opening on Tuesday, 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, U.S. and other states take urgent and concrete measures," Amnesty said in a statement.
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. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, U.S. Under-Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky and senior European officials are among 450 officials due to attend.
Labels: Amnesty International, conference, IDPs, Iraqi refugees, UNHCR
