DUBAI, 6 May 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS

IRAQ: Violence hampering efforts to tackle IDPs IRAQ: Baghdad Christians flee as violence against them mounts IRAQ: Palestinians refugees despair after year marooned between Iraq and Syria IRAQ: Displaced families fall victim to house sale scams IRAQ: Residents come together to help displaced families IRAQ-SYRIA: Iraqi doctors welcome refugee agency contribution for hospitals IRAQ: Justice delayed as lawyers live under threat IRAQ: UNHCR warns of tragedies facing Palestinian refugees Saleh Nizar, Iraq "I thought I would not stand the torture" ISRAEL-OPT: Humanitarian situation got worse in 2006, says UN agency

UAE-PAKISTAN: Gov't steps up efforts to help former child jockeys SOMALIA-YEMEN: Somali government hopes Puntland can help stem flow of would-be migrants

IRAQ: Violence hampering efforts to tackle IDPs

The United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR) has welcomed the Iraq government's efforts to tackle internal displacement issues, but analysts say much more needs to be done.

"People are getting displaced on a daily basis, in addition to dozens joining the refugees in neighbouring countries. The funds so far donated to tackle this problem are small," said Professor Moussa Khalil, a specialist on democratisation and humanitarian affairs in the Iraqi Governing Council.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71922

IRAQ: Baghdad Christians flee as violence against them mounts

Kamar Anuar, a 44-year-old Christian, has abandoned his home after he found a threatening letter in his garden, signed by an alleged Islamist group, telling him to convert to Islam or leave the country.

Anuar, a resident of Dora district, one of the mainly Christian Baghdad neighbourhoods, has decided to take refuge in a relative's home in Kurdistan in the north.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71925

IRAQ: Palestinians refugees despair after year marooned between Iraq and Syria

Over 1,000 Iraqi-Palestinian refugees stranded in camps on the Syrian-Iraqi borders are sinking into despair as their situation continues to deteriorate and a solution to their plight remains elusive.

"We are losing hope," one refugee in the Al-Tanf camp, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. "There are problems between husbands and wives because of the situation and we are afraid for the future of our children. We are searching for a solution, but it does not exist."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71928

IRAQ: Displaced families fall victim to house sale scams

Officials in the Iraqi Ministry of Construction and Housing have asked Iraqis to be wary of vendors who sell properties belonging to the displaced under false pretences.

Illegal vendors are using fake documents and forged signatures to sell houses that belong to displaced Iraqis who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of sectarian violence. Some of them, according to Ministry of Construction officials, produce documents in English which say the US authorities' in Iraq have authorised the sale of such properties, thus making unsuspecting buyers confident that the transaction is legal.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71900

IRAQ: Residents come together to help displaced families

Some families in Baghdad have started working together to collect food and essential items for displaced people living in makeshift camps on the outskirts of the capital - an initiative that has been welcomed by local NGOs.

"The idea came from a child who was missing two of his friends who were displaced. His family decided to take the child to visit them. When they got back home he asked his mother to send some food to his friends' families. His mother then spoke about it to a neighbour of theirs as the situation of the displaced was desperate," said Sa'ad Ruweidi, one of the organisers of the project.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71891

IRAQ-SYRIA: Iraqi doctors welcome refugee agency contribution for hospitals

Iraqi doctors in Damascus have welcomed the announcement today by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that it is contributing US $2 million to the Syrian Ministry of Health towards the strengthening of medical facilities available for more than one million Iraqi refugees in Syria.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71895

IRAQ: Justice delayed as lawyers live under threat

When Iraqi lawyer Muhammad Shami, 44, decided to leave work early on 4 April, he would never have known that doing so would save his life. Soon after arriving home, he received a phone call from someone in the office next to his, saying that two of his colleagues had been shot dead at their desks.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71864

IRAQ: UNHCR warns of tragedies facing Palestinian refugees

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees stranded in makeshift camps in no-man's land between the desert borders of Iraq and Syria must be moved to a safer place to avoid any human tragedies, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said last week.

The 25 April statement came a day after a fire swept through the al-Tanf refugee camp - which hosts 389 Palestinian refugees, mainly women and children - during the night and left 28 people injured and seven tents destroyed.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71856

Saleh Nizar, Iraq "I thought I would not stand the torture"

Saleh Nizar, a 58-year-old gardener, says he was tortured in an Iraqi prison after he was arrested and accused of participating in an attack in the capital, Baghdad. He was arrested on 15 October 2006 and set free on 5 April 2007 after he was helped by a senior Iraqi officer who said that Nizar was his gardener and that he was definitely innocent.

As result of the torture he endured, one of his legs sustained serious injuries and doctors said it might require amputation. Nizar, who has a heart condition which he did not receive treatment for while in prison, now spends much of his time in hospitals and clinics trying to stay alive.

http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=71861

ISRAEL-OPT: Humanitarian situation got worse in 2006, says UN agency

A recent United Nations report reveals that the humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) continued to deteriorate in the second half of last year, largely because of a collapsing economy.

Many Palestinians fell further into poverty. The Gaza Strip was the hardest hit with about 80 percent of households earning less than US $1 a day, twice the percentage of those earning that little in the West Bank.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71857

UAE-PAKISTAN: Gov't steps up efforts to help former child jockeys

The United Nations Children Agency (UNICEF) and the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mauritania, and Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding last week for a second and expanded phase of their programme to assist and compensate all children formerly involved in camel racing in the UAE.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71860

SOMALIA-YEMEN: Somali government hopes Puntland can help stem flow of would-be migrants

The Somali consulate in Aden, southern Yemen, says the number of smugglers' boats carrying African migrants from Somalia to Yemen could decrease in future as the authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, step up anti-trafficking actions.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=71872

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