Refugees International, an advocacy group, has recently recommended policies to help ameliorate the Iraqi refugee crisis. Their recommendation of a US ambassador in Syria makes sense considering that Syria hosts the largest number of Iraqi refugees and that the US ought to seriously act on their behalf. The recommendations are as follows:
1. The U.S. immediately appoint a senior PRM official to be based in the region and charged with coordinating both the assistance and resettlement components of its response;
2. The U.S. immediately appoint an ambassador level diplomat to be based in Syria;
3. The U.S. and other donors provide earmarked bilateral assistance to countries hosting large numbers of Iraqi refugees, either directly or through a Trust Fund established by the UN or the Arab League;
4. The U.S. fund all pending UN appeals at a level of 50% or more;
5. The UN country teams make responding to Iraqi refugees needs a priority, with the UN resident representatives acting as coordinators of the overall national UN response and as liaisons with the diplomatic and donor communities.
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