video-Kurdish Government calls for International Help in Syr
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:07 pmThe Kurdistan Regional Government said it has received too little attention from the international community involving its plight with the Syrian Refugee crisis, making it difficult to provide basic necessities the refugees require.
Around 160,000 refugees have crossed into the Kurdish Region of Iraq and 50 to 60 individual refugees cross on a daily basis, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the UNHCR.
Just recently, this number grew following the KRG’s decision to open a pontoon bridge at Peshkhabour to allow refugees to cross into Kurdistan from Syria.
UNHCR field officers reported the first group of some 750 Syrians crossed over the pontoon bridge at Peshkhabour at the Tigris River before noon on Thursday but in the afternoon a much larger group of 5,000 to 7,000 people followed.
Falah Mustafa Bakir, Head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations, said the KRG has received very little support for this growing
problem compared to that of other countries.
“The point is that, in comparison with the rest of the refugees in, single refugees, in Jordan, Lebanon, in Turkey and elsewhere, we in Kurdistan have received too little attention from the international community. We have been providing support as the KRG, but also the people of Kurdistan…charitable organizations and people at large through civil society and institutions have made contributions to help the Syrian Kurdish refugees.”
To date there has been a total of $1.12 billion U.S. dollars in total funding for the Syrian refugee crisis.
Out of that $1.2 billion, Iraq has received only $67 million, only to beat Egypt, which has been given $14.6 million.
Jordan has received $439.6 million and Lebanon has received $428.8 million, with Turkey in tow, receiving $93.9 million.
Bakir said the KRG has provided millions out of its own pocket, and also cited KRG’s Prime Minister Nechrivan Barzani putting in $20 million to help with the crisis, but it can’t continue this level of funding.
“Really this is beyond our capacity as a government, because we have got needs and expectations from our own people here,” Bakir said.
Bakir also touched on how the central government in Baghdad has done nothing to help the KRG by allocating funds for the crisis.
“We have received nothing from the federal government in Baghdad to help them. And not only are the Syrian refugees here but we have opened our door for the Syrian Christian community who have fled the violence in Iraq and resided in Kurdistan, in addition to thousands of Arab families both Shiite and Sunnis who have resided in the Kurdistan region.”
The shortfalls of the international funding for the Kurdish region and also the lack of ability by the Kurdish region to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees has created massive overcrowding in the Domiz Camp in Duhok.
It was originally only supposed to house 15,000 refugees, but it now has 35,000 and living conditions are deplorable.
Adil Osman, a Syrian-Kurdish refugee living in an apartment near Family Mall with his three children , brother and wife, has seen first-hand the shortfalls of the KRG in handling the crisis.
As he straddle his young daughter in his modest home, he said, “I received a bag of rice that had worms in it and flour that was black and rotting.”
Osman said this was the only aide he received from the KRG and UNHCR for the 10-months he has been in Iraqi Kurdistan and he has heard of similar cases among other refugees in Erbil.
He also said he hears of how bad the living is in the Domiz Camp, which has insufficient water lines, infrastructure and sanitation issues.
“That’s why we are calling the international community and we welcome the German government initiative to have the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development to come and see the situation for himself, to help the people who are in real need,” and “that’s why we’re saying it’s beyond our capacity,” Bakir said.
Recently, the German government pledged to donate an additional 15 million Euros for the Syrian Refugees, via a UNICEF and World Food Programme, with a significant amount of that earmarked for refugees based in the Kurdistan Region, according to the KRG.
But Bakir said, this would only touch the surface of what is needed to help provide the basic necessities for refugees in the region.
The KRG and the UNHCR are working with one another to put together new camps which will house around 20,000 refugees, but with the newly opened bridge and Syrian refugee crossing daily, the problem must be faced head on.
And the only way the KRG will be able to fulfill its duties to its people and to the refugees will be for the international community to come forward, according to Bakir.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/20082013
Around 160,000 refugees have crossed into the Kurdish Region of Iraq and 50 to 60 individual refugees cross on a daily basis, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the UNHCR.
Just recently, this number grew following the KRG’s decision to open a pontoon bridge at Peshkhabour to allow refugees to cross into Kurdistan from Syria.
UNHCR field officers reported the first group of some 750 Syrians crossed over the pontoon bridge at Peshkhabour at the Tigris River before noon on Thursday but in the afternoon a much larger group of 5,000 to 7,000 people followed.
Falah Mustafa Bakir, Head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations, said the KRG has received very little support for this growing
problem compared to that of other countries.
“The point is that, in comparison with the rest of the refugees in, single refugees, in Jordan, Lebanon, in Turkey and elsewhere, we in Kurdistan have received too little attention from the international community. We have been providing support as the KRG, but also the people of Kurdistan…charitable organizations and people at large through civil society and institutions have made contributions to help the Syrian Kurdish refugees.”
To date there has been a total of $1.12 billion U.S. dollars in total funding for the Syrian refugee crisis.
Out of that $1.2 billion, Iraq has received only $67 million, only to beat Egypt, which has been given $14.6 million.
Jordan has received $439.6 million and Lebanon has received $428.8 million, with Turkey in tow, receiving $93.9 million.
Bakir said the KRG has provided millions out of its own pocket, and also cited KRG’s Prime Minister Nechrivan Barzani putting in $20 million to help with the crisis, but it can’t continue this level of funding.
“Really this is beyond our capacity as a government, because we have got needs and expectations from our own people here,” Bakir said.
Bakir also touched on how the central government in Baghdad has done nothing to help the KRG by allocating funds for the crisis.
“We have received nothing from the federal government in Baghdad to help them. And not only are the Syrian refugees here but we have opened our door for the Syrian Christian community who have fled the violence in Iraq and resided in Kurdistan, in addition to thousands of Arab families both Shiite and Sunnis who have resided in the Kurdistan region.”
The shortfalls of the international funding for the Kurdish region and also the lack of ability by the Kurdish region to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees has created massive overcrowding in the Domiz Camp in Duhok.
It was originally only supposed to house 15,000 refugees, but it now has 35,000 and living conditions are deplorable.
Adil Osman, a Syrian-Kurdish refugee living in an apartment near Family Mall with his three children , brother and wife, has seen first-hand the shortfalls of the KRG in handling the crisis.
As he straddle his young daughter in his modest home, he said, “I received a bag of rice that had worms in it and flour that was black and rotting.”
Osman said this was the only aide he received from the KRG and UNHCR for the 10-months he has been in Iraqi Kurdistan and he has heard of similar cases among other refugees in Erbil.
He also said he hears of how bad the living is in the Domiz Camp, which has insufficient water lines, infrastructure and sanitation issues.
“That’s why we are calling the international community and we welcome the German government initiative to have the Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development to come and see the situation for himself, to help the people who are in real need,” and “that’s why we’re saying it’s beyond our capacity,” Bakir said.
Recently, the German government pledged to donate an additional 15 million Euros for the Syrian Refugees, via a UNICEF and World Food Programme, with a significant amount of that earmarked for refugees based in the Kurdistan Region, according to the KRG.
But Bakir said, this would only touch the surface of what is needed to help provide the basic necessities for refugees in the region.
The KRG and the UNHCR are working with one another to put together new camps which will house around 20,000 refugees, but with the newly opened bridge and Syrian refugee crossing daily, the problem must be faced head on.
And the only way the KRG will be able to fulfill its duties to its people and to the refugees will be for the international community to come forward, according to Bakir.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/20082013