Iraqi MP says government has ‘no clear policy’ to deal with refugee crisis

Worries that the Iraqi refugee crisis will grow into an even greater regional and international burden were exacerbated Monday, when a member of the country’s parliament admitted that the government has no clear policy to tackle the situation, the United Nations’ IRIN news agency reported Tuesday.

“The government’s obvious inability to solve the problem of IDPs [internally displaced persons] and refugees could lead to serious regional and international problems, as there is no clear and comprehensive policy to get them back to their homes,” said MP Abdul-Khaliq Zankana, head of parliament’s Displacement and Migration Committee.

Iraq’s IDP and refugee problem is the result of 25 years worth of conflict – the 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war, the Gulf War of 1991, and the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq – as well as some of the policies of Saddam Hussein. According to the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR), over 4.2 million Iraqis fled their homes during the past quarter century, although most have left since 2003. Nearly half of the displaced have taken refuge in neighboring countries like Syria, and Jordan, while 2.7 million are IDPs.

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