UNHCR exceeds 2007 Iraqi refugee referral goal

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday that its target of 20,000 Iraqi referrals for 2007 has been exceeded, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty reported the next day.

According to the article: “As of December 7, the agency transferred the files of 20,472 of the most vulnerable Iraqi refugees to 16 countries for resettlement consideration, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, Brazil, Chile, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Spain, and Germany.”

“The majority of those resettled, 2,376 went to the United States,” the article adds. “The UNHCR estimates that there are still between 80,000 and 100,000 ‘extremely vulnerable’ Iraqis in need of resettlement. It concluded that the security situation in Iraq remains unclear, and warned Iraqis in host countries not to return home at this time.”

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