Five Years On, More People Displaced Than Ever Before
Five years after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, more
people than ever before are displaced from conflict and sectarian
violence, ensuring that the humanitarian crisis in the country is
far from being solved.
"/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/media/docs/reports/iraq_idp_assessment_march08.pdf"
target="_blank" title=""> "background-color: rgb(153, 204, 255);">Iraq Displacement
Assessment and Statistics
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target="_blank" title=""> "background-color: rgb(153, 204, 255);">Minority Religious IDP
Groups in Iraq
Although the rate of displacement has slowed over the past year due
to improved security in cities such as Baghdad and to sectarian
cleansing of previously mixed neighbourhoods, there are now more
5.1 million Iraqis who are either displaced (IDPs) within Iraq or
are living as refugees abroad. Of these, 2.7 million are IDPs and
more than 2.4 million refugees, predominantly living in
neighbouring Syria and Jordan.
Although Iraq was home to a substantial number of IDPs prior to
2003 due to the wars and the policies of the previous regime,
military operations in 2003 displaced many tens of thousands more.
In 2006, escalating sectarian violence drastically changed the
scale and dynamics of displacement with more than 60,000 people
being displaced internally per month at the peak of the crisis.
Conditions for the displaced have considerably worsened in this
time with shelter, food, and employment remaining priority needs
for Iraqi IDPs and refugees alike. These needs remain unmet due to
ongoing insecurity and a major lack of funding for humanitarian
relief.
The pressures of such large-scale internal displacement in such
a short space of time has compounded the plight of the displaced
with many governorates in Iraq unable to bear the stress of such
large numbers of new arrivals on their infrastructure. Some
governorates have closed their borders to newly displaced, and
neighbouring countries have imposed strict visa requirements that
also restrict Iraqis from fleeing the country.
Many IDPs live in sub-standard or over-crowded shelter as they
are largely without the income to afford escalating rent prices.
More than 75 per cent of IDPs do not have access to government food
rations, and nearly 20 per cent are without clean water while 33
per cent do not have access to the medications they require.
Despite the efforts of the humanitarian community, IOM
assessments of IDPs have found that only 20 per cent of them have
received any assistance from an NGO or an international
humanitarian agency.
Although there has been a lot of recent attention on Iraqis
returning either from abroad or from elsewhere in Iraq due to
improved security in their neighbourhoods of origin or to worsening
security conditions in the areas to which they had originally fled,
returnees represent only about one per cent of the total refugee
and internally displaced population.
"It's important to view this piece of 'positive' news in
context. Many of those returning cannot return to their homes
because they are occupied or have been destroyed, forcing them into
secondary displacement. IOM's own assessments of nearly one million
recently displaced people show that for over one third of them,
their homes have been occupied by others. They have no home to go
back to," says IOM's Chief of Mission for Iraq, Rafiq
Tschannen.
Ali and his family reflect the tragedy faced by many displaced
families in Iraq. Ali's father was kidnapped two years ago
and still has not been released, despite a ransom paid on his
behalf. Both sons were also kidnapped and later
released, and another son was killed in a car bombing.
Threatened by armed groups and faced with the loss of many loved
ones, the family fled their home and work in Baghdad. Now
Ali's family is living in a relative's home with their relatives
and another displaced family. Only one person has a job,
which does not provide the income needed to support everyone in the
house.
Despite insecurity, extreme challenges and limited funding, IOM
continues to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced Iraqis
and the vulnerable communities hosting IDPs. Since 2003, IOM has
implemented 139 community assistance projects for water,
sanitation, health, and livelihood as well as education assistance.
IOM also delivers emergency humanitarian food aid throughout the
country with more than 330,000 IDPs having benefitted from this
assistance in the past two years alone. Overall, IOM has assisted
more than five million internally displaced, returnees, and host
community members since 2003.
"We urge donors to step forward and give this humanitarian
crisis in Iraq the attention it deserves. To date, a two-year IOM
appeal to assist Iraq's internally displaced is still only 28 per
cent funded. We could be doing so much more to avert the suffering
that is clearly in evidence all around us," added Tschannen.
For further information, please contact:
Dana Graber Ladek
IOM Iraq Displacement Specialist
Tel: +96265659661
E-mail:
"mailto:dgraber@iom-iraq.net">dgraber@iom-iraq.net