Iraq - IOM is today launching an appeal for USD 80 million to continue to provide emergency support to vulnerable displaced families throughout Iraq. The appeal covers activities from July to December 2015.

Of the total, USD 35 million is considered first priority funding for the most critical life-saving activities and has been included in the UN 2015 Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). The UN HRP was launched last week in Brussels, seeking a total of USD 497.9 million for urgent assistance and protection for 5.6 million people in Iraq for the next six months.  

The IOM Iraq appeal seeks donor support to continue life-saving humanitarian assistance and response to the increasing displacement through provision of non-food item kits, shelter, cash assistance, transport, primary health care, psychosocial support, livelihoods training, humanitarian communications and rapid response mechanisms (RRM); and to support common humanitarian services, including production and dissemination of the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM).

Emphasizing the need for these appeals, the IOM DTM, released last Friday, identified over three million Iraqis who were internally displaced from January 2014 to 21 May 2015. More than 97 per cent (67,266 individuals) of the new displacement identified during the reporting period (7 -21 May) is within Anbar Governorate, which has been repeatedly affected by conflict, including the most recent clashes in the city of Ramadi. According to preliminary field reports, through DTM’s emergency tracking system, from 8 April to 1 June a total of over 250,000 individuals were displaced from Ramadi and the surrounding area.

IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss said: “Additional funding is needed now to respond to increasing humanitarian needs in Iraq. Displacement continues to rise; the more than three million displaced Iraqis who fled their homes at a moment’s notice are in need of everything – shelter, non-food items and basic services. IOM Iraq will continue to work together with our donors, humanitarian partners and local authorities to provide life-saving assistance for displaced people who are in dire need of our support.”

The most recent IOM Iraq DTM dataset, Dashboards, and Dynamic Displacement Map, in addition to previous DTM products, can be found at: http://iomiraq.net/dtm-page

For more information please contact IOM Iraq, Sandra Black, Tel: +964 751 234 2550, Email: sblack@iom.int or Laura Nistri, Tel. +964 751 234 2549, Email: lnistri@iom.int