VOA常速英语2008年-Displaced Iraqis Find Difficult to Return Home

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 April 2008

A new report indicates Iraqi refugees and internally displaced people who have returned home find no relief from the humanitarian¹ crisis they suffered during their exile and displacement². Iraq's Ministry³ for Displacement and Migration⁴ and the International Organization for Migration made the assessment⁵ in a survey of more than five thousand returnees. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

The joint⁶ Iraqi / I.O.M. study finds the situation for those Iraqis returning home is grim and not necessarily an improvement from when they were displaced.

Jemini Pandya, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, says returnees often lack food, non-food items, fuel, shelter, decent sanitation⁷ and jobs.

"Almost half of the assessed returnees have only intermittent⁸ access to government food rations⁹ which are largely insufficient¹⁰ to meet their needs. And, more than half of the same assessed returnees have no access to health care, medications or the money to pay for them. Though this figure jumps to 70 percent of people returning to Baghdad," said Pandya.

The more than 78,000 people who have returned to the homes they fled represent less than one percent of Iraq's five million refugees and displaced people. Since the U.S.-led coalition¹¹ invaded Iraq five years ago, about 2.5 million people have become refugees, mainly in neighboring Syria and Jordan. A similar number has become displaced within Iraq.

Pandya says it is likely that the number of displaced people who have returned home is under-reported. She says in March, prior to the recent violence in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere, monitors had noticed an increase in returns. But the high rate of returns, she notes, probably outstripped¹² the capacity of Iraqi authorities to identify where these people are located.

"This, combined with the fact that, even before that, not all returnees had been identified means that it is likely that the figures are actually higher. And of those that we know about, nearly two-thirds of them, for your information, returned to Baghdad with March 2007 representing the peak month for returns," said Pandya.

The study finds most returnees have gone back to their original houses. But it says many properties suffered significant damage and a lot of belongings¹³, including furniture, have been lost or stolen.

Furthermore, Pandya notes, many of the people who have returned to Baghdad have found their homes occupied by strangers. She says property disputes and the resettlement of returnees currently are being handled on an ad hoc basis by various authorities. She says a more comprehensive policy must be enacted¹⁴ to resolve tensions over these issues.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 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。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

5 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

8 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

9 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

10 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

11 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

12 outstripped   

v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• That manufacturer outstripped all his competitors in sales last year. 那个制造商家去年的销售量超过了所有竞争对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The imagination of her mother and herself had outstripped the truth. 母亲和她自己的想象力远远超过了事实。 来自辞典例句

13 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

14 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹