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SYRIA: Aid agencies begin food deliveries to over 50,000 Iraqi refugees

DAMASCUS, 19 November 2007 (IRIN) - Aid agencies in Syria have joined forces to provide free food to over 50,000 Iraqi refugees throughout Syria.

On 18 November, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) began distributing food to 51,600 vulnerable Iraqis in Damascus and eight governorates in Syria, which is hosting an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees, many of whom are in dire financial straights.

“I don’t have any income. There are no jobs and we have no money to buy food,” said Manoel Asador from Kirkuk, queuing for food at a distribution point in Damascus. “This is very important for me because food is very expensive in the markets here and I have six people to feed.” The price of basic commodities and housing in Syria has soared over the past two years.

Refugees deemed most needy by the UNHCR will receive a two-month food ration including rice, wheat flour, lentils, canned meat, tea, jam and tinned tuna.

“With every month that passes, we know that more and more Iraqi refugees are no longer able to provide food for their families. We are committed to a continued expansion of food distribution throughout Syria, and expect to add 5,000 to 6,000 people to our food distribution each month during the next six months,” said Pippa Bradford, a WFP representative in Syria.

Last month Syria closed its doors to any further Iraqi refugees. While the government says it will not deport those in the country, Iraqis are struggling to make ends meet as they are not allowed to work legally and are rapidly running out of money.

Dozens of refugee families have been forced to return to Iraq because their money had run out. Others have resorted to more desperate measures to generate income.

“Weekend marriages”

In a Geneva press conference on 13 November UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller said there had been a resurgence of “weekend marriages” involving Iraqi women in Syria, in which young girls are made available for marriage for a weekend to men willing to pay for a marriage ceremony. A divorce is then arranged at the end of the weekend.

“Such an arrangement was not labelled prostitution, but marriage, although in reality it was `survival sex’,” said Feller.

Resettlement in USA

The food distribution was taking place as the government allowed US officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to enter the country on 30 October to interview Iraqi refugees for resettlement in the USA.

Refugees at a food distribution centre visited by IRIN expressed a desire to be resettled, though many were frustrated with the slow process.

“All my relatives are in America and I want to join them,” said Asador. “They don’t give us any work here and we cannot manage.”

The USA has said it will admit 12,000 Iraqi refugees this year but slow administrative procedures as well as the inability of US officials to interview refugees in Syria has hindered the process. In October only 450 were let into the USA, less than half the monthly average needed to reach the target.

The Bush administration has conceded a moral obligation to assist Iraqi refugees, but the slow pace of admissions has sparked criticism from refugee advocates and US lawmakers.

Testifying before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on 15 November, Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch, criticised the US target figure of 12,000 admissions by the end of 2007 - the number of Iraqi refugees that typically entered Syria every six days in 2006 - as “making virtually no impact” from a regional perspective.

David Welch, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, told the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee that "Syria has committed to issue visas to DHS adjudicators, who, in the coming weeks, will be interviewing hundreds of Iraqis referred by UNHCR to the US Refugee Resettlement Program.

"In this respect, we do appreciate Syria's decision to renew cooperation with us on our programmes to address this humanitarian issue," he said.

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Copyright © IRIN 2007
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.