U.S. campaign rhetoric jeopardizing resettlement of Syrian refugees: U.N.

[December 08, 2015]  By Stephanie Nebehay
 
 GENEVA (Reuters) - Campaign rhetoric in the United States is harming a vital U.S. resettlement program for Syrian and other refugees fleeing war and persecution, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States in the most dramatic response by a candidate yet to last week's shooting spree by two Muslims who the FBI said had been radicalized.

UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming, asked about Trump's remarks, told a news briefing in Geneva: "What the candidate you are speaking of was speaking of was an entire population but this also impacts the refugee program.

"Because our refugee program is religion-blind. Our resettlement program selects the people who are the most in need."

About 100,000 refugees are resettled worldwide each year, including to the United States, the largest recipient under the UNHCR's program, Fleming said. The screening process takes up to two years and priority is given to the most vulnerable, including women heading families, children needing specialized medical treatment and victims of torture.

"The (Obama) administration has been standing by the program. This is most scrutinized population coming into the United States," she added.

Up to 40 U.S. governors had spoken out against the resettlement program, she said.

"We are concerned that the rhetoric that is being used in the election campaign is putting an incredibly important resettlement program at risk that is meant for the most vulnerable people - the victims of the wars that the world is unable to stop," Fleming said.

Joel Millman, spokesman of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), asked about Trump's comments, said:

"I will just say what others have said, that prejudice or discrimination based on religion is totally against every Convention that we know of in aiding people in humanitarian emergencies and of course in resettlement."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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