One-sixth of Iraq's residents displaced – UN

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Tuesday , 08 /07 /2008 Time 9:55:01

BAGHDAD, July 8 (VOI) – One-sixth of Iraq's residents are displaced inside and outside of the country, UN secretary general's representative, David Shearer, said on Tuesday.

Shearer referred to the necessity of enacted a national policy to deal with this issue.The Iraqi Minister of Immigration and Emigration said that the national policy aims at finding a permanent solution for emigrants and displaced people's problems.

"Iraq has faced big problems and difficulties, represented by violence and forced displacement, which has resulted in the displacement of one-sixth of Iraq's residents both inside and outside the country," Shearer said in a speech he made during the first conference pertaining to the national policy to treat displacement that was held in Baghdad.

He praised the governmental activities to restore 10,000 displaced people to their residential areas, in addition to helping 5,000 physicians to return to Iraq, according to statistics released by the Iraqi Immigration Ministry.

"These numbers are simple, and cannot be heavily relied upon, but at the same time mirror evidence of tangible security improvements," he added.He stressed the necessity of learning the obstacles and difficulties that prevent displaced families from returning home, and to search for frequent sources of support to them in all fields.

"Only the Iraqi government can present a solution for displaced people's problems by allocating funds in the budget, in addition to allocating funds to solve Iraqi emigrants problem world-wide," he noted.

"Iraq needs combined efforts, and the UN is part of the solution," he asserted.

During the conference that was held in coordination with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and attended by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI), Abdul-Samad Rahman Sultan, the Iraqi Immigration Minister, said "the conference aims at finding permanent solutions for displaced people's issue, and to provide an active, realistic, and comprehensive frame that responds to their demands."

"The displacement problem can be divided into two parts; before the toppling of the former regime, and after 2003 when the U.S. forces entered Iraq," he added."The former regime's wars with neighboring countries displaced around 1.2 million Iraqis over 40 years," he proceeded.

"The displacement's second stage took place after 2003, due to the invasion," he explained."The explosion at the al-Askariya shrine in Samara on February 22, 2006, displaced around 240,000 families of different Iraqi components inside Iraq," he noted.

Sultan stressed that his ministry, in coordination with other ministries, worked on obtaining a national policy to deal with displacement, which requires coordinated work of the ministries, governmental institutions, and non-governmental organizations.

He did not mention when this policy was obtained.