To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what response the Government has made to the representations of Amnesty International for the UK and US to provide resettlement programmes for Iraqis who have fled their homes since 2003. (156081)

The Government are aware that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Amnesty International have called for countries to resettle some Iraqi refugees in the region. The Border and Immigration Agency has started discussions with UNHCR regarding the feasibility of resettling some of the Iraqi refugees in the region to the UK. The UK’s resettlement programme, the Gateway Protection Programme, currently resettles 500 refugees a year from across the world.