United Nations Radio

A group of 29 vulnerable Palestinian refugees stranded for the last two years in a makeshift camp in the desert on the Iraq-Syria border are set to leave on Monday to begin a new life in Iceland.

The UN refugee agency-UNHCR says given their vulnerability, it considers resettlement their only option.

UNHCR Spokesman Ron Redmond.

"Well these are some of the most vulnerable of the refuges in these camps. They are mainly women with children, usually single women in this case whose husbands were killed over the last few years in the Iraq conflict. Most of them were living in Baghdad. So they have lived a very, very difficult life for the last two, two and a half years on the border. These are snake and scorpion-infested camps."

Iceland takes 25 to 30 refugees for resettlement annually and in recent years has focused in particular on resettling single women and single mothers with their children.

This is Donn Bobb reporting for United Nations Radio.

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