Moving Palestinian Refugees to Sudan Not a Solution

Washington DC -- Refugees International (RI) called on the U.S. government today to urgently resettle 3,000 Palestinian refugees from the Syria-Iraqi border in response to announcements that the vulnerable population would be relocated to Sudan.

RI expressed deep concern over the decision taken by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Sudan to relocate this population to pre-fabricated housing in a Khartoum neighborhood, with no path to citizenship. As the three parties prepare to start processing the refugees, Refugees International called for the UN, the U.S., and other resettlement countries to ensure a voluntary, dignified process that allows this vulnerable population to find a permanent, stable home.

"Relocating Palestinian refugees to Sudan does not offer this population a real choice for a permanent, stable home, and simply moves them from one marginalized situation to another," said Kristele Younes, Senior Advocate with Refugees International. "Most of these people are afraid to go to Sudan, especially now that charges were filed against the Sudanese president by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, but they do not feel they have any other options. They are forced to choose between being stranded in the desert or living in a country without citizenship and with the ongoing threat of expulsion and dispossession."

Approximately 34,000 stateless Palestinians have lived in Iraq since 2003. Since the beginning of U.S. military operations in Iraq, many suffered persecution at the hands of the Iraqi government and other armed groups. More than 3,000 fled to the Syrian-Iraqi border, where they live in makeshift tents in the desert with limited access to basic services. Syria refuses to allow them to enter its territory and only a few have been resettled, mostly to Sweden and Chile. Failure to act on the part of the U.S. government and other resettlement countries led UNHCR to sign a tripartite agreement with the PLO and the Government of Sudan that called for the relocation of this population to a neighborhood of Khartoum.