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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 09 January 2007

IRAQ: Aid agencies cannot cope with displacement, says UNHCR

BAGHDAD, 9 Jan 2007 (IRIN) - The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has warned that the scale of internal displacement in Iraq was beyond the capacity of humanitarian agencies, including UNHCR.

The UNHCR added that the longer the displacement continued, the more difficult it would become as the internally displaced and their host communities in Iraq run out of resources.

The UNHCR issued the warning in a report on Tuesday when it said that a larger humanitarian crisis was looming in Iraq than anticipated by aid agencies at the onset of the US-led war in 2003. Violence across much of the central and southern regions has been displacing thousands of people every month, said the agency.

Between January and mid-November 2006 an estimated 425,000 Iraqis fled their homes for other areas inside the country, most after sectarian violence sparked by the bombing of an important Shiite mosque in Samara in February 2006, according to the refugee agency. At mid-year, internal displacement was estimated to be continuing at a rate of about 50,000 a month.

Ibrahim Abdel Rahman, a spokesperson for a Baghdad-based NGO, Peace and Charity for Iraqis (PCI), told IRIN the numbers of displaced was even higher than the figures cited by UNHCR and the government’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration.

Fatah Ahmed, a spokesperson for Iraq Aid Association said local NGOs were struggling to cope with the increased numbers of displaced people.

“More children are getting sick due to lack of medical assistance and a balanced diet,” said Ahmed, adding that the situation was more critical in those areas that could not be accessed by the NGOs.

“In Baghdad alone, more than 50 families [at least 300 individuals] leave their homes daily. Soon we will have more people who are displaced than those who live in their own homes,” added Ahmed.

The report, issued in the wake of the agency’s appeal for US $60 million in emergency aid to help those fleeing violence, added that exiled Iraqis had now stopped returning to Iraq as they had done between 2003 and 2005. Thousands more people are fleeing, including large numbers of skilled professionals crucial to helping the country’s recovery.
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This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2007