U.N. calls for global approach to refugee crisis

GENEVA -- Top United Nations officials urged Iraq's neighbors Tuesday to leave the door open to Iraqis fleeing the country by the tens of thousands each month, but said other countries also need to help.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined in the call for a global solution, saying other countries need to alleviate a mounting humanitarian crisis in the Middle East by offering a new home to at least some of the Iraqis seeking to escape the country's sectarian violence.

"All of us must recognize that this situation is a global responsibility with international repercussions," Ban said by video to a gathering of more than 450 officials from 60 countries trying to address the plight of Iraqi who have fled to Jordan, Syria and other countries in the region.

"For neighboring countries this means keeping borders open," he said. "For other countries it means continuing to provide asylum or other forms of protection."

Exact figures on Iraqi refugees are hard to obtain, but the U.N. refugee agency estimates about 2 million have gone to neighboring countries, including many uprooted before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In addition, some 1.9 million Iraqis have been displaced within the country, according to the agency.

Most refugees have stayed in neighboring Syria and Jordan, placing a strain on both countries by driving up prices of housing and goods, and stretching health care and other basic services. About 750,000 Iraqis have ballooned Jordan's 5.5 million population by 14 percent and more than 1.2 million have fled to Syria. Egypt has 120,000 and Lebanon is home to at least 20,000 Iraqi refugees.

The conference -- organized to explore ways of helping Iraqis fleeing daily suicide bombings, abductions, house evictions and other atrocities -- opened Tuesday with a plea from the United Nations' refugee chief to tackle a problem he said had gone unnoticed for too long.

"Almost 4 million Iraqis are watching us today," said Antonio Guterres, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, who called the Iraqi refugee crisis the most serious in the Middle East since the displacement of Palestinians following the creation of Israel in 1948.

"Keeping borders open, ensuring Iraqis seeking safety are not forced back into danger and are given access to protection and humane living conditions ... these are responsibilities for all, not just the countries in the region," he said.

Ban said Syria and Jordan have been generous in receiving refugees, but it is becoming more and more difficult to provide basic health care and education. While greater support from other countries can alleviate the refugee crisis, "only a secure, politically stable and economically prosperous Iraq can reverse the plight of displacement," he said.

Angelo Gnaedinger of the International Committee of the Red Cross agreed. "What is required is more than emergency aid," he said.

Some 50,000 Iraqis are fleeing their homeland every month, according to UNHCR, which says the refugee crisis worsened dramatically after the bombing of an important Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra in February 2006.

Campaign groups such as Amnesty International have been putting pressure on the United States, Britain and other Western nations to increase the number of Iraqis allowed to permanently settle in their countries.

Washington already has said it will allow about 7,000 Iraqis into the United States this year -- up from 202 in 2006 -- and will pay more to help Iraq's neighbors cope with the surge of refugees. The U.S. pledged $18 million Tuesday toward UNHCR operations for Iraqi refugees, said Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch said the U.S. and Britain needed to boost their resettlement and temporary asylum programs even more, especially as an increasing number of Iraqis are being turned away from neighboring countries.

"There is a particular responsibility on the part of the United States and the U.K.," said Bill Frelick, head of the group's refugee policy. "Jordan and Egypt have pretty much closed their doors to Iraqi refugees, while Syria is shutting out Palestinians trying to flee Iraq."

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said relief efforts for Iraq were the second-worst funded worldwide, behind only the global body's operations in Malawi. "We cannot afford to look away and duck our responsibilities," he said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, the most senior government representative at the conference, said the Iraqi government was hoping to pave the way for the return of its citizens who were forced to flee abroad.

"The present situation of so many innocent uprooted Iraqis is an enormous challenge, but a symptom of the difficult transition our country is undergoing," he said.