Few now know that Iraq once had the most progressive women’s movement in the Middle East, dating back to British colonial rule. Even under Saddam Hussein’s despotic rule, Iraq – unlike its neighbours – adopted many international laws pertaining to…
There is a pervasive myth that Iraqi society is just another Muslim society and similar to Afghanistan. Saddam Hussein was a cruel authoritarian dictator but his largely secular regime opened spaces for women to become educated and enter the workplace…
In a statement made on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Olara A Otunnu, the then Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, stressed that “the children of Iraq are innocent, and all parties must…
Iraq’s Christian population, which numbered over a million at the beginning of the war, has been increasingly targetted by extremists and insurgents. Church bombings, kidnappings, extortion, beheadings, rape and forced taxation for being non-Muslims have forced hundreds of thousands of…
In 2005 UNHCR reported that in Lebanon, 55% of Iraqi households do not send their children to school; a further 25% of households reported that some of their children were missing school. Syria allows Iraqi children access to school but…
As Iraq news dominates the world media, it is all too easily forgotten that internal displacement is not new. Iraq has a history of forced migration that precedes the onset in 2003 of fighting between the Iraqi government, the US-led…
The IRCS is an independent national humanitarian society. One of the oldest Red Crescent societies in the region, it was founded in 1932 and recognised by the International Federation in 1934. We uphold international humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and…
We started work in Iraq in May 2003, with the objective of addressing needs resulting from the US-led war and the previous regime and then contributing to reconstruction. Ockenden established with the support of UNHCR its first legal aid centre…
As the article on page 17 indicates, the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration (MoDM) is responsible for playing the lead role in addressing the consequences of mass displacement and eventually facilitating the potential return of large numbers of displaced…
The good news is that the first quarter of 2007 has witnessed vigorous joint efforts by the UN Country Team (UNCT) in Iraq, the Humanitarian Coordinator and NGOs to address the neglected humanitarian side of the crisis in Iraq. These…