The financial needs for 2007 for assisting the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis evacuated both within Iraq and in the states of the region have doubled up. It was announced yesterday by the UN High Commission for Refugees (Unhcr) through the words of the High Commissioner António Guterres: "the needs of the refuges and the evacuees increase day after day; the efforts of the governments and the host communities in the countries of the region are huge. The appeal of the Unhcr aims at increasing assistance for the evacuees and for those who host them, but the activities of the agency must be part of a broader international effort”. According to the High Commission, "over four million Iraqis have been forced out of their country; about two million live in Syria and Jordan alone, while another two million are internal refugees. It has been estimated that 2 thousand Iraqis have left their homes". The new budget, of 123 million dollars, includes the 60-million budget submitted by Unhcr in January and already covered by donations. So far the Unhcr has raised 62 million dollars for its operations for the Iraqi refugees and evacuees. Another 10 million are being transferred to the agency, but these aids "are not enough yet".
