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The UN
refugee agency, through a local partner, has
delivered food and relief supplies to 102 desperate
Iranian Kurd refugees – among them pregnant women,
children and sick people – who have been living in
harsh desert conditions at the Iraq-Jordan border
for the last few weeks.
On Friday, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity
Organisation delivered UNHCR-provided food, plastic
sheeting, mattresses, blankets and jerry cans to the
refugees who had arrived at the border in three
batches over the past four weeks after leaving Al
Tash camp west of Baghdad.
They are now stranded on the Iraqi side of the
border, close to the no man's land where another
group of 660 refugees – also mostly Iranian Kurds
from Al Tash camp – have been living for the last
one-and-a-half years.
UNHCR is trying to confirm reports of more arrivals
at the border, possibly expanding the group to 115
refugees.
"The recent arrivals were believed to be surviving
on the charity of passers-by – a situation that will
clearly not be tenable for much longer," UNHCR
spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva on
Friday.
"Weather conditions at the border have been very
harsh in recent days, with freezing temperatures and
strong winds, and the refugees are reported to be
growing increasingly desperate."
There are many vulnerable people in the group,
including at least five pregnant women, a large
number of children, as well as disabled and sick
people. No medical team has been able to visit them
so far.
"UNHCR has been exploring with the Iraqi authorities
the possibility of supplying them from the Iraqi
side, but the security situation along the road from
Baghdad to the border means this is by no means an
easy option," said Redmond.
A mission is being planned by some health and
migration officials who would take with them some
basic relief items from UNHCR stocks in Baghdad.
He added that the refugee agency is discussing two
options – the issue of admission and the transport
of assistance across the border – with the Jordanian
government in Amman and via the permanent mission in
Geneva.
Al Tash camp was set up more than 20 years ago and
is currently housing just under 5,000 Iranian Kurds.
Located around 60 km from Falluja and only 12 km
from Ramadi, the camp was badly affected by heavy
fighting in the area last autumn.
The police station located in Al Tash was targeted
in November, but no direct attacks on the refugees
have been reported. The camp also suffered sporadic
cuts in its electricity and water supplies, medical
care and educational activities.
"The chronic insecurity in this part of Iraq has
also meant that UNHCR, its partners and the
government authorities have been limited in their
ability to respond to the refugees' needs," said
Redmond.
"It should be stressed that, as a very
well-established camp, it has become self-sufficient
in many areas, and delivery of food aid has been
continuing via the nationwide food-distribution
system."
Last year, 3,120 refugees moved from Al Tash to
Suleimaniya in northern Iraq, where they are
receiving assistance from both UNHCR and the local
authorities in the form of housing and
income-generation projects to enable them to achieve
self-reliance.
Further relocations to the north are an option for
the group currently stuck at the border, said
Redmond, as are returns to Al Tash camp.
http://www.unhcr.org/
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