UN assists Iraqi refugees returning from Iran

Despite the insecurity prevailing in parts of Iraq and its discouragement of large-scale returns, the United Nations refugee agency said today repatriation convoys from Iran had begun and it had helped 280 people to return in the last three weeks.

“While we're not encouraging repatriation due to insecurity, lack of humanitarian aid and economic conditions unsuitable for large-scale returns, many refugees do want to go back and have long been clamouring to return,” a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman told a news briefing in Geneva.

Some 202,000 Iraqis, most of whom fled their homes during the first Iran-Iraq war 20 years ago, were in Iran earlier this year.

“There have been reports that some refugees unwilling to wait for UN-facilitated convoys have gone back on their own,” spokesman Kris Janowski said. “Future convoys will depart Iran as needed to accommodate requests from any refugees seeking help to return.”

It took months of arduous negotiations to arrange the start of these repatriation convoys, he added.

After processing and mine awareness training at a transit centre a few kilometres from the frontier in southern Iraq, UNHCR local staff have given the returning refugees assistance packages containing mattresses, blankets, cooking utensils and a stove for each family, as well as tents for those in need of shelter.