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Palestinian refugees arrive at Romania centre en route to resettlement

News Stories, 17 April 2009

© UNHCR/F.Chiu
A Normal Playground: Some of the Palestinians enjoy a game of football at the centre.

TIMISOARA, Romania, April 17 (UNHCR) – A group of 59 Palestinian refugees have arrived at a special transit centre in Romania en route to a new life overseas after being evacuated from a desert camp in Iraq.

The refugees arrived at Timisoara International Airport early Thursday morning and were then transferred to the pioneering Evacuation Transit Centre. The Romanian government, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) created the facility to provide a temporary haven for refugees facing acute danger and in need of immediate evacuation.

The group, comprising mainly women and children, will remain in the centre until their applications for resettlement in a third country have been processed. This will take no more than a few months.

They had all been living under extremely tough conditions in Al Waleed camp, located close to Iraq's border with Syria, after fleeing from persecution and human rights abuses in Baghdad in recent years.

The tented settlement is home to some 1,500 refugees who live with the danger of snakes, rats, scorpions, sandstorms, flooding, fires and extremes of heat and cold. Seventeen people have died in Al Waleed from various ailments since 2007.

UNHCR spoke to refugees who were happy to be somewhere where they had far more freedom of movement than at Al Waleed and where they could easily receive medical care. "We are so happy that for the first time in three years our children can play on a normal playground," said one of the Palestinians.

UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller attended the formal opening of the centre last month, but it has been accepting refugees since last November, when a group of Eritreans arrived. Feller said the centre was becoming a key protection tool for UNHCR and it set a great example to other countries.

The Evacuation Transit Centre can accommodate up to 200 refugees. The Palestinians will be joining several dozen Sudanese from the troubled Darfur region. They arrived from Iraq, where they had been living in another desert camp after fleeing abuse, blackmail, eviction and assault by militias following the 2003 downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime.

"Again, the Centre has proved its value," said Machiel Salomons, UNHCR's representative in Romania, who was in Timisoara. "For the fourth time, refugees in desperate situations have been evacuated to the centre, awaiting a new life in a resettlement country."

Salomons said donors were showing a lot of interest and he added that high-level delegations from several countries were scheduled to visit the centre in the coming weeks.

By Florentina Chiu in Timisoara and Claudia Liute in Bucharest, Romania

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Palestinians Refugees in Iraq

Since the overthrow in 2003 of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, Palestinian refugees in Baghdad have increasingly become the targets of arrest, kidnapping, threats and murder, prompting thousands to flee the capital.

There are still an estimated 15,000 Palestinians in Iraq – compared to more than double that number in 2003. They live in constant fear, many without proper documentation. For those who try to leave, the trip to Iraq's border with Syria and Jordan is increasingly dangerous. Hundreds are stuck at the Iraq-Syrian border, too scared to go back and unable to cross the frontier. Those who do manage to leave Iraq, often do so illegally.

International support is urgently needed to find a temporary humanitarian solution for the Palestinians. UNHCR has repeatedly appealed to the international community and countries in the region to offer refuge to the Palestinians. The refugee agency has also approached resettlement countries, but only Canada and Syria have responded positively. Syria has since closed its borders to other desperate Palestinians.

UNHCR also advocates for better protection of the Palestinian community inside Iraq.

Palestinians Refugees in Iraq

Non-Iraqi Refugees in Jordan

After Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled in Iraq in 2003, groups of refugees who had lived in the country for many years tried to leave the chaos and lawlessness that soon ensued. Hundreds of people started fleeing to the border with Jordan, including Palestinians in Baghdad and Iranian Kurds from the Al Tash refugee camp in central Iraq.

Aside from a few Palestinians with family connections inside the neighbouring country, the refugees were refused entry and free movement in Jordan. Thousands were soon stranded in the no-man's land between Iraq and Jordan or at the desert camp of Ruweished, located 60 kilometres inside Jordan.

Since 2003, Palestinians, Iranian Kurds, Iranians, Sudanese and Somalis have been living there and suffering the scorching heat and freezing winters of the Jordanian desert. UNHCR and its partners have provided housing and assistance and tried to find solutions – the agency has helped resettle more than 1,000 people in third countries. At the beginning of 2007, a total of 119 people – mostly Palestinians – remained in Ruweished camp without any immediate solution in sight.

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Al Tanf camp was established in May 2006, when hundreds of Palestinians fleeing persecution in Iraq tried in vain to cross into Syria. With no country willing to accept them, they remained on a strip of desert sandwiched between a busy highway and a wall in the no-man's-land between Iraq and Syria.

Along with daily worries about their security, the residents of Al Tanf suffered from heat, dust, sandstorms, fire, flooding and even snow. The passing vehicles posed another danger. At its peak, Al Tanf hosted some 1,300 people.

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