Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nearly 200,000 Iraqis who live outside their country as displaced persons, but in the region, could have help from the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) to vote in upcoming elections. The Geneva-based organization has told the Iraqi Election Commission (IHEC), in response to a demand it made, that the UNHCR “stands ready to facilitate the participation of Iraqi refugees living in the countries neighbouring Iraq.”

The UNHCR will work with the government to provide demographic data on the registered Iraqis, inform them of their rights for the elections, and provide logistical support. The organization calls the 7 March elections “a major opportunity to consolidate national reconciliation.”

The UN group had some 300,000 Iraqis on its records as of December 2009, more than 210,000 of them in Syria. Close to 190,000 of these people are of voting age. But the UNHCR believes, based on host government sources, that the total number of Iraqis in the region is much higher, since “hundreds of thousands of Iraqis do not register with UNHCR for a variety of reasons.” A common reason displaced persons do not register is fear of being deported as illegal aliens.

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