Unicef praises Syrian support for Iraqi refugees

Dubai: The United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef, on Wednesday praised Syrian government efforts in support of Iraqi refugees.

It however called on the international community to take part in social and educational programmes set up to help more than one million Iraqis who fled to Syria following the US invasion in 2003.

On her first visit to Syria, Ann M. Veneman, Unicef Executive Director, told Gulf News that in spite of the generous programmes initiated by Syria, the services available for Iraqi refugees are still far below their needs.

In a telephone interview following her meeting with a number of Syrian officials including President Bashar Al Assad, Veneman said Syria has done a tremendous job in offering education for hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees in cooperation with an international organisation like Unicef, but said that Iraqis are still suffering from the lack of basic services that must be made available for refugees around the world.

She said the $15 million (Dh55 million) budget allocated by Unicef for rehabilitation programmes for Iraqis in both Syria and Jordan is definitely not enough, but that Unicef is trying hard to meet the requirements of 'helpless' refugees.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, Syria is the world's second-ranking refugee hosting country, with 1.1 million refugees from Iraq alone.

"The influx of refugees has put pressure on the country's education and health services, and Unicef is working with partners to help the Syrian government meet the needs of this community," Veneman said.

Veneman also visited a Unicef-supported community health care centre for women serving Iraqi refugees as well as women from the host community.

She said they are receiving psychosocial support in a centre supported by Unicef and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

"We give children in the age group of 8 to 12 years special attention because we felt that this group is the most affected people among refugees and they need psychological consultations so badly to restore confidence in their life and in the world surrounding them."

Veneman said Unicef has fostered strong working relations with Syrian non-governmental organisations.

She said Unicef is aware that children and women refugees suffer most in different parts of the world.

"We are trying with our Syrian partners to alleviate the suffering of Iraqi refugees through training social workers and offering them skills required to curb human trafficking and exploitation of women and children," she added.