VOA常速英语2007-UNHCR: Iraqis Running Out of Escape Routes

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
05 October 2007

The U.N. High Commissioner¹ for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, says Iraqis fleeing violence and persecution² are finding fewer avenues of escape and he is appealing to countries to keep borders open to Iraqi asylum³ seekers.  The High Commissioner was speaking to journalists at the conclusion of a one-week refugee conference in Geneva, from where we have this report from Lisa Schlein.

The U.N. refugee agency says Syria has imposed visa restrictions⁴ on Iraqis wishing to enter the country.  Aid workers report only commercial truck drivers are being issued visas at the border. 

Before these new rules went into effect, the agency says up to 2,000 people a day were crossing into Syria.  Now the border crossing is practically deserted⁵.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, says this effectively closes the last external refuge for Iraqis.

"The situation now is extremely worrying because Iraqis now find it extremely difficult to go out of the country and more and more difficult to move inside the country as there are internal borders also difficult to overcome between several governorates," he noted⁶.  "So, the situation is extremely worrying from our perspective because people are getting more and more trapped in extremely dangerous situations." 

Syria, which is hosting nearly 1.5 million Iraqis, says it cannot cope with anymore.  Guterres expresses disappointment with Western countries, that he says, are not fulfilling their pledges to provide Syria and Jordan with the financial support they need to assist the Iraqis.

While the situation in Iraq is particularly acute, it is only one of a number of asylum crises.  One of the key issues discussed at the refugee conference this week dealt with the difficulty of providing protection for the increasingly large numbers of people on the move.

Guterres says millions of people are forced to flee from persecution or war, but millions of others find they are forced to flee for reasons such as extreme deprivation⁷, climate change and environmental degradation⁸.  He says it is becoming more difficult to distinguish these different categories of displacement⁹.

"If one looks at Darfur, it is true that in Darfur we have when a Janjaweed group attacks a village, we have a political problem linked to the political crisis in Darfur," he added.  "But, there is also a competition for dwindling¹⁰ water resources between farmers and herders.  So, war is many times driven by scarcity¹¹ of resources.  Scarcity of resources can be driven by climate change.  All of these things are more and more mixed together." 

Guterres says the international community has to find ways to deal with the new forms of displacement that are gaining shape in this century.  Unlike refugees, he says people who flee for reasons of hunger or climate change are not protected under international law. 

He says one of the burning issues of this century will be to find ways to help the many desperate people who put their lives at risk in search of a better life elsewhere.

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

3 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

4 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

5 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

8 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

9 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

10 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

11 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。