Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hylton (Crossbench). It was answered on Tuesday, 16 January 2007.

Iraq: Policy Co-ordination

Question: My Lords, could the Government draw the attention of the American authorities to the presence of, roughly speaking, 1 million refugees from Iraq in Jordan and Syria? They are unable to work or get any support and do not even have refugee status. Does that not clearly indicate the need for a regional approach to all these problems?

Answer: My Lords, there is a need for a regional approach to secure any kind of enduring peace agreement throughout that part of the Middle East, including on the nuclear portfolio to which I referred. As a matter of fact, we are routinely in discussion on the question of the numbers of refugees in other countries. There is nothing that you can obviously do about that in the short term—and Ihave to tell the House that this country will not suddenly change its policies so that it becomes relatively easier for people to travel across the world to this country.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 688 c571
Session: 2006-07
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Armed forces Deployment Iraq Foreign policy Peacekeeping operations USA
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk