São Paulo – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Unhcr) has reported this Tuesday (23rd) a significant increase in the number of Iraqi refugees. The organization has said 120 people have left Iraq for Jordan each day on average so far in August and September, as against 65 in June and July and 30 in the first five months of 2014.
Coupled with Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country, 250 refugees are arriving in Jordan each day on average.
The Unhcr has added that 60% of all Iraqis arriving in Jordan claim they are in flight out of fear of the armed group Islamic State, which controls part of Iraq and Syria. The other 40%, according to the Unhcr, state that they are running away from sectarian violence in Baghdad and Basra.
The UN agency has also reported that 10,600 Iraqis have sought asylum in Jordan so far this year – 1,383 in August alone, the highest number for a single month since 2007. The total number of refugees in Turkey, according to the Unhcr, is as high as 103,000.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
