The Syrian conflict has displaced over 240,000 Syrians of Kurdish origin to the Kurdistan Region, mainly from northeast Syria (Rojava), and the UN Refugee Agency official opened the interview by commending the Region for welcoming so many, and providing them with a safe place to “rebuild” their lives.
“Over the last ten years, their children have been able to go to school, sick patients have been able to have access to medical care, and a lot of Syrians have found jobs'' in Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaimani, the official told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara. “The Kurdish and Iraqi people have shown a lot of compassion, a lot of empathy [and] a lot of support for their refugee brothers and sisters.”
The UNHCR works alongside authorities to ensure that all Syrian refugees have access to humanitarian residency permits so that they can legally stay in the Kurdistan Region or federal Iraq, and Beuze explained that humanitarian permits, rather than UNHCR refugee status, are actually more practical on a day-to-day basis. Currently, the status of Syrians in the Kurdistan Region remains that they cannot return to Syria because of the risk of detention and torture.
Challenged on claims that the UN is not fair in its distribution of aid, Beuze acknowledged that the agency cannot support everyone. “Our policies globally are always to support the most vulnerable families, because we have limited funding,” he said. “There are more and more crises in the world: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ukraine,” and funding is all-too limited.
“We have limited funding made available through different states who are supporting the effort of the UN Refugee Agency,” Beuze admitted. “We are asking for more than 350 million dollars to assist Syrian refugees… and also Iraqis who have been displaced… we received only 200 million [dollars] ... you can see that there is a gap between the needs we assessed… and the actual capacity for the UNHCR to respond to the need.”
Last month, the Iraqi oil ministry announced that the country exported its highest oil revenue since 1972, pocketing a gross amount of over eleven billion dollars. “We also have to count on the support of the Iraqi authorities themselves,” Beuze said, referring to Iraq’s position as “an oil-producing country,” and one that he said was “stabilising” after the defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS). The UNHCR says it is working with authorities to allocate more of the country’s budget for the inclusion of refugees into public services, such as health and education.
Demonstrating the success of this objective in the Kurdistan Region is the recent development that the education of children in the Region’s camps will now rest with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the schooling systems will be integrated.
“We have a good agreement with the minister of education in Erbil… to integrate Syrian refugee children into the public schools of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in September, at the next back to school period,” Beuze said. The teachers and schools will be from the Kurdistan Region’s education ministry, he explained, calling the integration of the school systems a “major achievement.”
In December, 55 teachers from Qamishli school in Erbil province's Qushtapa camp went on strike to demand the payment of their salaries from the KRG, after the responsibility of paying the teachers’ salaries was transferred from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The UNHCR works with the ministry of public health in Erbil to make sure that refugees have the same access to medical care, Beuze continued, although in some extreme cases where medical capacities are limited, refugees can be transferred abroad from the Region to supporting countries.
Asked about the fraud schemes by groups claiming to be the UNHCR or a similar body, offering to send refugees abroad for financial gain, targeting the vulnerable and pilfering their savings, he said that the organisation has “repeatedly told the refugees to never pay for any services.” Assistance provided by UN agencies or NGOs "are always free of charge.”
“People are really desperate, and sometimes they decide to pay for these services, hoping for a better future. We keep repeating to them… we will investigate [and] we will work with the authorities to stop these fraud schemes.”
