MP wants oil funds for refugee crisis

BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The top parliamentarian in Iraq's Displacement and Migration Committee wants "3 to 5 percent" of the country's oil proceeds to be dedicated to helping refugees.

There are an estimated 2.2 million internally displaced Iraqis and more than 2 million outside the country, according to the United Nations, effects of the 2003 invasion and subsequent decline in security and quality of life.

"We propose 3 to 5 percent of national oil revenues should be allocated to this problem as (displaced families) have become not only a burden on the Iraqi government but on all host countries as well," said Abdul-Khaliq Zankana, the U.N. humanitarian affairs office' press service reports.

Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves, but years of mismanagement by Saddam Hussein, U.N. sanctions and the war have prevented the fields from producing what they're capable of.

Still, Iraq has produced an average of about 2 million barrels per day since 2003, and in December that increased to 2.3 million. The U.S. State Department's Iraq Weekly Status Report estimates Iraqi oil exports brought in $34.4 billion in 2007.

"We believe that occasional financial support given by the government, national and international organizations is not enough to solve this problem," he added. "So the government has to adopt a fixed, clear and comprehensive policy that leads to an assigned budget as this problem is unlikely to be solved in months or even years."