Recently, Amnesty International put out a report stating that 3.7 million Iraqis have been displaced due to the conflict in their country. Of that, 1.7 million are known to be displaced within Iraq itself, and 2 million have migrated to other countries, including Jordan (700,000) and Syria (about 1 million).
Open Democracy.net quotes the UN High Commissioner for Refugees says this is the largest displacement of civilians since the Palestinians, during creation of Israel in1948. The article points out that the US has only accepted a nominal 600 Iraqi refugees since the war began four years ago, 202 in 2006. Sweden, on the other hand, has accepted 80% of Iraqis applying for refugee status, 9,000 in 2006 alone.
The US has finally bowed to pressure from the UN and allies in the Middle East to accept some 7,000 new Iraqi refugees.
Tags: refugees | Displaced | Sweden | Politics | IRAQI | Iraq
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