WHY AREN'T WE HELPING THE REFUGEES?

Today,Gordon Brown is expected to make a statement to Parliament over Iraq. The original scenario for this was of course that this would be done in a febrile pre-election atmosphere. Well now he is in a very different place and I hope an issue raised in today's Guardian will be taken up by MPs.
Figures obtained from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees show that Britain has taken in only 17 Iraqi refugees in 2007, out of the thousands waiting in Jordan for resettlement in safe countries.
Amnesty International's Jan Shaw, describes this as "extremely disappointing", saying the government "should stop sending people back to the violence in Iraq and it should stop forcing refused Iraqi asylum seekers into legal limbo and destitution".
The US has accepted 918 Iraqis from Jordan this year, and has also faced criticism from the US Congress and human rights groups. Sweden - which did not take part in the invasion and occupation - has taken 250 Iraqis.
The UNHCR's offices in Amman, which run a rigorous screening programme before they register Iraqis as legitimate asylum claimants, said 123 names had been submitted to Britain. "If we put a case forward, it means we consider this is a case that needs and deserves resettlement. If you can get an answer from Britain as to why it takes so long, I would love to hear it", Margo Rayment, the UN's resettlement officer, said yesterday.That question should be put to the Government.