IOM’s ongoing humanitarian programme to provide immediate
lifesaving assistance to ten of thousands of vulnerable Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable families living in
host communities has received new backing from the UN’s
Central Emergency Revolving Fund (CERF).

The USD 3.5 million funding will allow IOM and its partners to
deliver over the next three months desperately needed food and
non-food assistance to some 15,000 vulnerable families in the
governorates of Wassit, Ninewa, Kerbala, Diyala and Babylon, which
are experiencing high levels of displacement and where local
authorities, IOM and other humanitarian partners have not been able
to deliver sufficient levels of aid.

Vulnerable families and individuals including female heads of
household, pregnant women, widows, children, the elderly and sick
will be identified by IOM and its partners through in-depth
assessments carried out in the five governorates.  Similar
assessments will also be carried out in host communities to ensure
those most in need also receive food and non food assistance.

The UN Cluster on Refugees, IDPs and Durable Solutions, of which
IOM is the deputy coordinator, estimates that the number of Iraqis
displaced by violence since the bombing of the Al-Askari shrine in
Samarra in late February 2006 has now increased to almost 800,000
individuals. This figure, combined with the 1.2 million individuals
who were internally displaced before February 2006 brings the total
number of internally displaced to almost 2 million.

In-depth assessments carried out by IOM monitoring teams in 2006
and early 2007 among some 55,000 families in 15 Central and
Southern Governorates show that a majority of newly displaced IDPs
live in substandard, overcrowded public buildings or rented
accommodation with little or no access to running water, sanitation
or electricity.

In the volatile Governorate of Diyala, north of Baghdad, 97 per
cent of displaced rank access to food as their top priority and 93
per cent of the 5,000 assessed families live in rented
accommodation, public buildings or with relatives in often
overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

In the Governorate of Kerbala, south west of Baghdad, IDPs are
being turned away by local authorities because of the severe strain
the displaced are putting on local resources and services.

IOM’s governorate assessments show that the overwhelming
majority of families were displaced because of their religious
orientation, which resulted in direct threats to life, abductions
and assassinations.

IOM monitors visit IDP community leaders, local NGOs, local
government bodies, and individual IDP families to assess a number
of issues and needs, including food, healthcare, water and
sanitation, documentation, and property, and the future intentions
of the IDPs.

Since February 2006, the Organization has also been carrying out
emergency distributions of food, non-food items and water
assistance to the recently displaced with funding from the US
government.

Over the past twelve months, IOM has provided emergency
assistance to almost 200,000 individuals.

“This new funding is crucial to IOM’s efforts to
provide emergency assistance to the most helpless among the
hundreds of thousands of vulnerable displaced,” says Rafiq
Tschannen, IOM’s chief of mission for Iraq. “But the
needs are enormous in terms of shelter, food, water, sanitation and
health. With no sign of an end to violence or new displacement, IOM
is still requesting USD 40 million to continue providing assistance
to the displaced and host communities throughout the country.
Failing the displaced now would lead to an increased exodus to
neighbouring countries, which are already burdened with some 2
million refugees.”

For more information, please contact:

Rafiq Tschannen

IOM Iraq Chief of Mission

E-mail: "mailto:rtschannen@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">rtschannen@iom.int

Dana Graber

IOM Iraq Displacement Specialist

E-mail: "mailto:dgraber@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">dgraber@iom.int