On February 16, a number of Palestinian refugees in Iraq demonstrated in Haifa Club, east of the capital, Baghdad, against the restrictions imposed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The demonstration in Haifa Sports Club came in response to an invitation launched by some activists last week.
Protesters demanded “their right to return to Palestine instead of this restriction and stifling practices by the UNHCR”, as reported by the “new Arab” site.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees imposed a series of harassment during the last period.
It included cancellation of housing allowances for hundreds of Palestinians at a time marked by delays in previously scheduled interviews with the agency.
It is worth noting that before 2003, Iraqi governments had provided housing for the Palestinians, and this is a result of Iraq’s pledges in the Beirut agreement in 1953, which stipulated the provision of facilities and other rights to Palestinians, in agreement with the United Nations.
However, after 2003 the majority of Palestinian families were expelled from their homes due to accusations of supporting Saddam Hussein.
But once again, the government provided them with apartments as new housing.
The number of Palestinians in Iraq decreased significantly after the American occupation, following a series of targeting that led to the killing, wounding and arresting of hundreds of them. Then, a campaign of expulsion and displacement of thousands carried out by armed militias followed in 2006.
In November 2018, the Iraqi government had published a decision to strip Arab residents of some of the benefits and rights they possess in Iraq.
This new procedure included stopping the disbursement of the monthly ratio, depriving deceased retirement rights to their heirs, in addition to imposing fees on education and health, and denying them subscription to housing within Residential projects.
Such decision included Palestinian refugees as any other Arab residents of the country and denied them the privileges of the retirement law and war compensation system.
The decision aggravated the conditions of hundreds of families, especially widows, who were deprived of their husbands’ pensions, and Palestinians that were affected by war operations were excluded from benefiting from the War Victims Law, which was approved by the government in 2009.
#Iraq #PalestinianRefugees #RightToReturn #UNHCR
English 
العربية