Geneva (AsiaNews) – The United Nations has welcomed a US plan to grant up to 7,000 Iraqi refugees asylum over the next year. Antonio Guterres, head of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said the initiative was “a very good step in the right direction.” Until recently the issue of Iraqi refugees had been a bone of contention between the UN and the US.

The number represents a huge increase over the 463 refugees the US has taken in the past four years. In addition, the US will offer US$ 18 million to the UNHCR for the millions of other Iraqis displaced within and without their country.

In its latest appeal, the UN had called for US$ 60 million from the international community to fund a global resettlement programme.

The 7,000 refugees would move to the US from countries they have already reached. Most of them are in hard-pressed Syria and Jordan.

US immigration officials plan to interview refugees during the current US fiscal year which ends on 30 September. It is not known when those approved would actually arrive in the country. Moreover, the State Department said that the figure was a “target” not a ceiling.

The change in US policy reflects criticism levelled at the low number of refugees admitted so far. Last year only 200 applications were accepted and most were filed before the war against Saddam.

Until a few months ago the tragedy of Iraqi refugees was a bone of contention between the US and the UN which could not agree as to how to tackle the issue.

Ellen Sauerbrey, US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration, had said that the UNHCR “had to do better,” whilst the UN complained that it needed more money from the international community.

According to UNHCR figures, 3.8 million Iraqis have had to flee their homes becoming internal refugees or forced abroad.