Refugees official: Palestinians in Brazil living tragic conditions

Refugees official: Palestinians in Brazil living tragic conditions

The head of the refugees’ affairs department, Hussam Al-Ahmed, has described the conditions of Palestinian refugees in Brazil as “very difficult and humiliating”.

He said in a press release on Saturday that many of the Palestinian men suffered heart attacks and chronic diseases while some of the pregnant women suffered miscarriage as a result of their tragic conditions.

He said that the refugees are subject to humiliation, blackmail and robbery, adding that they pay half their allowances, which they get from the UNHCR, as rent, electricity and gas bills despite living in single room apartments.

The refugees’ official said that his contacts with the Brazilian foreign ministry, justice ministry and courts to alleviate their suffering went in vain, holding the UNHCR responsible for the refugees’ miserable living conditions.

Al-Ahmed called for helping those refugees “get out of the hell they are living in” and to return them to refugee camps in Arab countries, and appealed to the media and various human rights groups to expose the conspiracy being hatched against those refugees.